Uisce Eireann issues update on boil notice impacting 7,000 in Limerick
Councillor calls for greater communication from water utility
UISCE EIREANN has again failed to give a date as to when a boil water notice impacting 7,000 people locally will be lifted.
For more than a year now, people living across the Adare-Rathkeale district have been subject to the notice which advises against the drinking of water straight from the tap.
It comes after the supply was identified as potentially unsafe over the detection of cryptosporidium.
The matter came to a head at a council meeting, where members were told that due to Uisce Eireann staff being on holiday, they are unable to meet to advance the lifting of the notice.
“Final commissioning works are progressing, with data collation to be presented to the HSE thereafter. Uisce Eireann will then consult with the HSE to discuss the possible lifting of the boil water notice,” the utility firm added in a statement to the Leader.
Fianna Fail councillor Bridie Collins challenged Mayor John Moran on a commitment he had made in his manifesto that, if elected, he would provide weekly updates to those impacted by undrinkable water.
As it stands, she says she is not being given much information by the utility formerly known as Irish Water.
Mayor Moran has written to the company to reflect the concerns of Cllr Collins and other members of the Adare-Rathkeale district.
“We were told back in January that they were expecting the boil notice to be lifted at the end of January. We are now heading towards the end of July and the notice still exists,” she said.
She criticised Uisce Eireann, saying the utility firm needs to be doing more to communicate with its customers.
She feels she is being used as a “conduit”.
“This is a national body. They have a list of their customers and they should be making direct contact with them. There is a lot of confusion as to what a boil notice is,” Cllr Collins said.
The Adare businesswoman said that many people are spending their money buying bottled water when they do not really need to.
She pointed out that under a boil notice, once it’s heated to boiling, it’s drinkable.