An East Clare councillor claims it will be a “new low for public service in Ireland” if Uisce Éireann can’t prove it can provide clean drinking water.
It follows an EPA audit of the O’Briensbridge Water Treatment Plant, which found that residents of the village were consuming inadequately disinfected water for 12 months, before a ‘boil water notice’ was implemented.
Uisce Éireann has since completed works to address the recommendations of the report, including the upgrade of disinfection systems and enhanced training for staff on the management and escalation of incidents.
The utility has acknowledged the findings of the report and apologised to local customers for the failures and says it continues to engage closely with the EPA and HSE in order to reduce risks to drinking water quality and protect public health (read the full statement below).
Killaloe Fianna Fáil Councillor Tony O’Brien believes the water utility faces a hard task in restoring public confidence.
Listen to the full interview here
Statement from Uisce Éireann
Uisce Éireann’s priority at all times is the provision of safe, secure drinking water to our customers all over Ireland.
As part of our enhanced national oversight and assessment programme, Uisce Éireann identified a number of issues with the disinfection processes at the O’Briensbridge water Treatment plant in August 2023. This resulted in a Boil Water Notice being put in place to protect public health, in consultation with the HSE. This notice remained in place until October while remedial works were carried out at the plant.
Uisce Éireann also engaged with the Environmental Protection Agency at the time and a subsequent EPA audit of the O’Briensbridge Water Treatment Plant carried out last September identified a number of deficiencies in the operation and oversight of the plant. We acknowledge the findings of the report and apologise to local customers for these failures.
Since these issues were first identified by Uisce Éireann as part of our proactive monitoring and assessment programme, major improvements have been made in operational oversight and risk management processes at the plant to ensure it provides a clean, safe drinking water supply to the local community.
Uisce Éireann has since completed works to address the recommendations in the EPA audit report, and additional source protection works are currently being progressed.
These works included the upgrade of the disinfection systems, the installation of a turbidity monitor and chlorine alarms, and an enhanced schedule of network monitoring. Full UV disinfection is now in place at the plant with alarms and escalation systems to support this.
Enhanced training has also been rolled out to all staff on the operation of the disinfection systems at the plant and on the management and escalation of incidents, so that we can protect and inform our customers.
We continue to engage closely with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and HSE in order to reduce risks to drinking water quality and protect public health.
Significant progress has been made in improving the management of Ireland’s drinking water network, which comprises over 700 water treatment plants and over 63,000 km of pipes. It is important to note that 99.7% of the water we produce meets or exceeds the required water quality standards. We are committed to continuous improvement in the management of drinking water quality through improved oversight and monitoring of all water treatment plants nationwide.
We have also developed robust procedures to allow timely reporting of any risks to treatment processes in order to protect public health. This includes training for treatment plant operators on the requirements of the Uisce Éireann incident communication response processes to ensure incidents are recognised, escalated and acted upon promptly.
The most recent EPA Drinking Water Report recognises the ongoing improvements made by Uisce Éireann in testing, monitoring and assessing water supplies and the key role this has played in identifying risks to drinking water quality, ensuring a safer water supply for all.
Where Uisce Éireann becomes aware of any issues through our rigorous testing process, we take prompt action to resolve these issues and, in consultation with the HSE, inform customers of any recommended measures to take to protect public health. Customers who have any queries or concerns about their water quality can contact our customer care centre 24/7 at 1800 278 278.
