Do Not Consume and Boil Water notices could become more prevalent
Rolling water outages could become the norm across the region unless rapid increased investment in upgrading local supply and treatment networks soon materialises.
“It could indeed,” accepts Dr Pat O’Sullivan, a leading expert in the field, and Irish Water’s compliance specialist for the North West region, commenting on further potential ‘Do Not Consume’ and ‘Boil Water’ notices being applied across Cavan and Monaghan in future.
He made the comments after the ‘Do Not Consume’ notice was lifted in Belturbet, where the town’s inhabitants were advised not to consume the local supply due to the presence of high levels of manganese in tests carried out.
What shocked Irish Water most in relation to Belturbet was how high the level of manganese was in testing.
“We hadn’t seen that before. We hadn’t seen levels that high, up on 600 [micrograms per litre], which is very high for a river source,” Dr O’Sullivan tells The Anglo-Celt.
To put in context, EU drinking water regulation limits the presence of manganese to less than 50, with the public health limit set at 120.
“It has become a real problem for us,” says Dr O’Sullivan of the manganese issue. “Once we go across 120 we’re going into restriction territory.”
In this past Summer alone, aside from Belturbet, ‘Do Not Consume’ notices have been issued in respect of the Cootehill public water supply, affecting approximately 2,190 customers; and on private group water...
Read Full Story: https://www.anglocelt.ie/2021/09/23/bridge-over-troubled-water-for-local-sources/
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