Irish Water failed to report issues at Dundalk treatment plant despite 337 complaints

A report into Irish Water’s handling of water quality incidents at the Cavanhill Water Treatment Plant in Dundalk in 2020 and 2021  has found that the company failed to report high levels of manganese in the water in 2021 despite 337 complaints from the public. 

The report was carried out as part of an investigation by the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities after an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) audit in June 2021 discovered a large number of complaints and a failure to report exceedances of manganese in the water to the public. 

In answer to the 2020 incident the report states that Irish Water has acknowledged that “due to a breakdown in internal communications, these parametric failures were not identified to and therefore not actioned by Irish Water’s drinking water compliance team”.

In respect of a separate 2021 incident of excessive manganese found in the supply, the CRU report found that Irish Water failed to ensure information was made available to customers on its website in a timely manner. 

The report states that:

“Irish Water became aware of the issue at Cavanhill on 8th June 2021 and a press release was issued. However, while customers are directed to Irish Water’s website to obtain information, news of this incident was only uploaded on 17th June 2021.”

Irish Water acknowledged that an administrative error led to information not being published on its website until 17th June 2021, despite updates being available on 11th and 15th June 2021.

The report made two further findings in respect of Irish Water’s handling of the incidents including that the company did not accurately categorise several contacts as complaints despite the customer expressing dissatisfaction and an expectation of a response or resolution. 

It further found that Irish Water did not follow up with some customers who contacted it in relation to discoloured water and were not informed of an explanation for the issue they were reporting.

In respect of the categorisation of complaints the report states that the CRU has not been reassured that remedial actions put in place by Irish Water to date fully address this issue.

The report does however note that:

“The CRU welcomes that during this investigation, Irish Water confirmed that it has now changed its guidance to the contact centre staff to instruct that all reports of personal or household illness suspected to be from drinking water will be logged as “red” complaints.

“Previously, Irish Water was not logging all such contacts as complaints. The CRU believes this is an important change in approach but that further improvements are required in Irish Water’s contact categorisation and resolution processes.”

The CRU has further instructed Irish Water to conduct a review of its contact handling and categorisation processes, from receipt to resolution, against comparable water utilities to identify best practice and potential improvements in Irish Water’s processes

With regards to the failure to inform customers of the 2020 incident the CRU says that remedial actions completed by Irish Water following the findings of a separate investigation with similar findings in Bailieborough, Cavan were not yet in place when this incident took place and that they expect improvements “to assist Irish Water to quickly detect issues and provide the required communications to customers in a timely manner.”

In relation to the delay in publishing information on its website, Irish Water has confirmed that training for members of its media team took place following this incident and the CRU says it is satisfied that these remedial actions address this finding.

Reacting to the report the CRU Commissioner for Water, Dr. Paul McGowan said: 

“These investigations have highlighted the need for Irish Water to review its contact handling and categorisation processes. 

“The CRU requires Irish Water to implement satisfactory improvements to ensure customer complaints are categorised and handled appropriately. 

“Irish Water is obliged to provide a clear and easy process for customers who wish to make a complaint and provide customers with timely and accurate information. 

“Breaches to these obligations pose a risk to customer protection, particularly when a water quality incident takes place.”

In a statement released to the Democrat Irish Water said:

"Irish Water acknowledges the Commission For Regulation of Utilities’ report on incidents in Gorey and Cavanhill in 2021 and apologies to customers for the incidents that occurred. The protection of public health is a priority for Irish Water and 99.7% of the water we produce meets or exceeds the required standards and is safe to drink. We rely on sampling and alarms to maintain high quality standards, so that when something goes wrong, we can take corrective actions or, where necessary, put on a Boil Water Notice or Do Not Consume Notice until we can rectify the situation.

 "In the past year since these incidents occurred, we have made significant progress in developing enhanced systems to monitor drinking water treatment plant performance and improve incident management. These measures have proven to be essential in detecting and preventing potential water quality issues, thereby protecting public health and ensuring more secure water supplies.

 "These measures included a full briefing and retraining of the operational team in the Irish Water contact centre to better support and capture complaints from customers who have contacted us to discuss any concerns they may have. We also continue to review our communications channels to ensure that timely and accurate information is provided to the public in relation to water supply issues.

"Operationally we implemented the following additional measures:

• We prioritised a knowledge audit of the largest water treatment plants in the country. This included site visits and meeting with relevant staff to ensure that proper processes are in place to deal with and escalate any future incidents.
• We have proactively communicated with all Local Authority Chief Executives and Directors of Service nationally on the critical need to report incidents in a timely manner at all plants they operate, to allow for risk assessments to protect public health.
• Refresher training of all relevant water services staff nationally was accelerated and we audited all water treatment plants over time to ensure knowledge of all protocols is in place. 
• Where appropriate, Irish Water also put staff on site in water treatment plants to ensure the continued safety of water production.
• To date 51 of Ireland’s largest drinking water plants which cater for a population of 2.73 million people have now been connected to the new National Operations Management Centre which enables them to be monitored 24/7 and action to be taken immediately when issues arise.

"The incidents outlined in the report further highlight the critical importance of building on the progress already made towards a single national body with responsibility for overseeing all public water services. Only through the implementation of rigorous national standards and procedures across all of Ireland’s 750 water treatment plants can the risk of these issues occurring in the future be reduced.

"We will continue to work closely with the CRU, EPA, HSE and other stakeholders including the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to ensure that the highest drinking water standards are maintained and that public health is protected at all times."