Irish Water is urging the people of Ballyshannon to conserve water over the bank holiday weekend due to a pollution event caused as a result of intense rain yesterday and possibly coupled with agricultural activities in the area.
The incident triggered the automated shutdown of borehole sources that feed raw water to the Ballyshannon Water Treatment Plant.
Irish Water said it would like to stress that no contaminated water has entered the treatment plant or the network and water is safe to drink.
“There is no risk to public health as a result of this incident and Irish Water has initiated its emergency response plan and notified all relevant statutory authorities.
“Irish Water and Donegal County Council are asking the public to conserve water over the bank holiday weekend period in both Ballyshannon and Bundoran as the quantity of water available to treat has been affected by the incident.”
The utility would like to stress that there is no contamination in the network and the issue over the busy bank holiday weekend period is about conservation.
The Ballyshannon supply will be supplemented from Bundoran, Donegal Town, County Leitrim and Northern Ireland water supplies.
Regional Information Specialist for the region Sean Corrigan explained: “The amount of water that we have available to treat has reduced significantly, the supply is being supplemented from other areas and Irish Water and Donegal Co Co are working hard to minimise disruption. As far as we are aware there are no outages at the moment, but with festivals and bank holidays it is a very busy period and we ask that people conserve water. Irish Water does not expect customers to experience any water outages but there may be a loss in pressure in some areas.”
On-going investigations are taking place to determine the exact cause of the incident.
Anyone who experiences a water outage over the weekend should contact the Irish Water helpline on 1850 278 278 immediately.
Irish Water and Donegal County Council are working hard to ensure there is as little disruption as possible to tourism, business and normal daily life. Irish Water would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused and would like to thank the public in advance for their co-operation.
Some helpful tips when conserving water are:
Shower instead of using the bath,
Check your toilet cistern is working,
Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth,
Check for leaks in your kitchen,
Use a basin in the sink.
