Updates and Queries about the BWN

Clo49

Hi Irish Water,

Regarding the Boil Water Notice in place for greater Dublin area, I totally understand that you can't give us updates every hour, but what about the weekends? There is no work at the Leixlip plant to try to solve the problem? We didn't get any information for 2 days, it's a bit strong as it is a public health issue...

About public health, people complain about symptoms, you tell them to go see their GP, very well, but as we do not have real information (only rumors) on the nature of water contamination, how can GPs give appropriate drugs? Don't you think that there is a huge lack of communication about this? Please, could you be honest with your consumers and tell us what is really going on with the Leixlip plant? 

On your website, on the updates page, you said when the BWN was reissued that it was because of heavy rain. We are in Ireland in November, rain can't seriously be the real reason... If it's a material problem, it would be nice for your consumers to know it, to better understand why the BWN takes so long to be lifted.

I hope you will give us real answers, not with just the link of your updates page, I think we all read it.

Anyway, good luck to solve all this, I hope in reasonable times! 
Regards

Irish Water: Allanah

Hi Clo49,

Thanks for your message.

Testing continued throughout the weekend and the final test will be processed an analysed, with the results due to be available on Tuesday. We apologise that there were no updates over this time frame.

The Boil Water Notice was imposed on a precautionary basis as the turbidity levels in the treated water were above a defined quality threshold. This meant we could not guarantee that harmful parasites such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia weren't removed during the treatment process. Boiling and cooling the water before drinking will kill any Cryptosporidium and Giardia that may be present making it safe to drink.

For more information on Crypto or Giardia please visit the Health Protection Surveillance Centre website here.

Thanks,
Allanah

Clo49

Hi Allanah,
Thank you for your answer. I appreciate.
I have another question though, regarding use of coffee makers. At work, during the last BWN in October, we weren't allowed to use coffee makers as we weren't sure that the water was boiled enough to kill bacteria. For this one, only water coolers are out of service (coffee makers are good to go). How is it possible?
Many thanks,
Regards

Irish Water: Allanah

Hi Clo49,

You're very welcome, we are happy to help.

While the Boil Water Notice is still in place, it is recommended that all water intended for human consumption should be boiled at a rolling boil for at least one minute and cooled before it is used to make hot drinks. We recommend that you check with the manufacturers as each machine has different settings and we wouldn't be able to advise on the specifics.

We hope this information helps, please feel free to get in touch again should you have any further questions.

Thanks,
Allanah