NI water insists Top of the Hill water is safe to drink despite safety concerns 

Potential safety concerns were raised about drinking water in the Top of the Hill area of Derry.

Sinn Féin candidate, Caitlin Deeney, had shared images of water from a household tap in the Top of the Hill area showing cloudy, yellow water.

The Waterside candidate said: "A number of residents in the Top of the Hill area have been in touch with me to raise concerns about discoloured water coming from their taps.

"I have been in contact with NI Water to raise these concerns and the potential safety implications for people drinking this water."

Ms Deeney added: “On the back of this, NI Water engineers are carrying out an investigation to get to the bottom of this.

“In the meantime, I would urge people to check their water and please feel free to contact myself or NI Water directly with any concerns.”

NI Water, however, say the cloudy, discoloured water is "safe to drink" and are tomorrow carrying out a programme of essential work to upgrade the NI Water site off Dunfield Terrace.

The cloudy water was caused after NI Water contractors carrying out an excavation on the Trench Road accidentally damaged a water main on the morning of Tuesday April 25, affecting customers in the Gobnascale area of the city.

A spokesperson for NI Water said: "NI Water is aware that some customers have experienced cloudy or discoloured water following this interruption.

"This discolouration can happen when there has been an interruption to the water supply and the operational activity associated with restoring the water supply.

"Air in water can sometimes cause a discolouration but we assure customers that the water is completely safe to drink. NI Water teams responded by carrying out remedial flushing to resolve the discolouration and would like to thank the public for their patience while the situation was being resolved.

"NI Water has a robust testing and sampling system which sees over 120,000 samples lifted and analysed each year as required by the Drinking Water Regulations.

"Samples are taken from customer homes, from drinking water reservoirs and from treatment plants with sampling and analysis carried out 365 days per year."