Dundalk’s water quality raised in Leinster House

Dundalk’s water quality was to the fore in Leinster House recently when Irish Water executives were questioned by Dundalk TD Ruairí Ó Murchú, who told them that people laugh at him when he asks for tap water, instead of bottled, in local eateries.

The Sinn Féin TD said water quality has been a ‘huge issue’ in Dundalk, North and Mid Louth for ‘a considerable time’.

He told said: "I was in a chip shop the other day, and somebody asked me if I wanted tap water or bottled water. I said tap water, and everybody laughed and assumed that I was not being serious. It is a considerable issue."

Deputy Ó Murchú asked Irish Water about the CRU investigation on Cavan Hill treatment plant in Louth, which highlighted problems with Irish Water’s communications with customers.

He said: "In 2020, there were breaches in manganese levels, but there was a huge issue in communications.

"This also happened later in June 2021, but the fact is that every year for the last number of years, Irish Water has spoken about flushing programmes and has said that the problem would be dealt with.

"It went from iron oxide to manganese.

"Over the summer I, along with various elected representatives, tried to make contact with Irish Water.

"We were given the date of 14 September as the end of this flushing process. I did not believe it to be the case that that would be the end of it.

"Irish Water’s own press releases had listed Blackrock initially, parts of Dromiskin and later Dundalk. In Dundalk, Irish Water named the number of the estates, such as the estate I live in myself, Bay Estate, as well as St. Alphonsus Road, Muirhevanmor etc.

"I was also constantly and consistently getting pictures and videos of brown water from other areas of Dundalk. I am speaking about the likes of O’Hanlon Park, Marian Park and the north end of Dundalk. I never saw any of those places on the list.

"I find it hard to believe that the date of 14 September could have ever been the end date. I am still getting photographs of brown water. The situation has not been completely resolved. I am looking for a timeline."

Irish Water’s head of asset operations, Tom Cuddy said there had been ‘incredible’ increases in manganese, including in Dundalk.

He said: "The raw water is the issue. It also tends to be seasonal, so it comes to the fore in the summer and late summer.

"What happens is that it comes out of solution when it is in the network. It then causes cloudy and speckled water. The only resolution, once it gets that far, is for us to flush the network.

"Now it has progressed to the stage where it needs pretty much a dedicated a flushing team and we have had to make changes within the network.

"This is really a treatment issue. It is a new process within the overall treatment plant."

He added that ‘many lessons were learned from the CRU report and that has been corrected at this stage’.

Irish Water’s head of asset strategy, Angela Ryan said the source of the water at Cavanhill is Lough Muckno and there had been a number of instances over the last few years where the water levels have dropped to ‘historic’ low levels.

She said they were continuing to look at how to deal with manganese and said: "It will probably require us, because it is a recurring issue across our supplies, to set up a programme to address that specific topic."

Irish Water said the current levels of manganese in the Dundalk supply are below the compliance limit, but conceded there may be some areas that still need to be flushed, and while the peak manganese problem seems to have passed, there is a fundamental problem that will have to be addressed.