A Boil Water Notice for customers supplied by Rosses Regional Public Water Supply has been lifted today.
The notice was in place for a week after operational and mechanical issues occurred Crolly Water Treatment Plant during the freezing weather.
Up to 10,000 customers were affected across Crolly, Loughanure, Annagry, Kinncasslagh, Burtonport, Dungloe, Gweedore, Gola Island, Inishfree Island and all areas and group water schemes supplied by Crolly Water Treatment Plant.
Irish Water has lifted the notice this afternoon following completion of remedial measures and the receipt of satisfactory monitoring results. This decision follows a consultation undertaken with the Health Service Executive (HSE).
All consumers affected by the notice and served from the Rosses regional Public Water Supply can now resume normal use of the water supply for drinking, food preparation and brushing teeth.
Irish Water’s Seamus O’Brien said: “Irish Water acknowledges and understands the impact this Boil Water Notice had on the community, and we sincerely regret the inconvenience. Our drinking water compliance and operational experts worked hard to resolve this issue as quickly and as safely as possible. We are grateful to the media, elected representatives and members of the public who shared the information. We would also like to thank Donegal County Council and HSE for their input and support throughout the process.”
Irish Water and the Local Authority/Health Service Executive Water Liaison Group will continue to meet and will review ongoing process control, monitoring and testing of the drinking water supply.
Councillor Michael Cholm Mac Giolla Easbuig has praised staff for their work on the issues. He has also called for a full investigation into how the issues occurred at the newly installed Crolly plant.
“We have to investigate why this has happened to a new treatment plan that millions has been spent on, that has to be made public,” Cllr Mac Giolla Easbuig said.
The West Donegal councillor paid tribute to council water staff who ‘worked around the clock’ to deliver a clean water supply to the area once more.
“Their dedication to the community has been unquestionable,” Cllr Mac Giolla Easbuig said. “We have seen in the past the water staff’s commitment in turning this around in a short time has been fantastic. Meanwhile, we saw what happened at the Leitir plant where it took three months for that to be turned around.”
Cllr Mac Giolla Easbuig also criticised Irish Water’s “failures to adequately and properly inform the public” about last week’s boil water notice.
“We had a situation where people who don’t have social media and don’t read newspapers are left without knowing there was a boil notice. Donegal County Council would have leafletted a whole area and went out of their way to make damn sure everyone was notified. Irish Water decided they would just stick with online. That is no good to our community.”
