Boil water notice comes to an end

Irish Water has confirmed the long awaited lifting of the boil water notice in South Roscommon.

In a statement released this afternoon, the State utility announced that the HSE has lifted the boil water notice for 11,300 customers served by the Killeglan and Castlerea plants following EPA inspections early this week.

People living in parts of Bealnamulla, Drum, Taughmaconnell, Brideswell and other areas in the south of the county have been advised not to drink water directly from their taps since October 2013 following an outbreak of cryptosporidium.

Work to upgrade the Killeglan and Castlerea plants was completed early in 2015. Following this, a required period of audit and testing was carried out by the Environment Protection Agency and the Health Services Executive, before the boil water notices could be lifted.

The Killeglan and Castlerea plants have been producing treated drinking water since March and following continuous testing and completion of EPA inspection audits at both plants this week, the HSE has today lifted the boil water notice for both supplies meaning an additional 11,300 Irish Water Customers in Roscommon now have a clean safe drinking water supply.

John Tierney, Managing Director of Irish Water, said today that dealing with the boil water notices endured by thousands of customers in Roscommon has been a top priority since Irish Water came into existence.

“Irish Water as a national water utility has been able to fast-track and coordinate the completion of this and other projects in Roscommon so that boil water notices will be lifted for 22,700 customers in Roscommon by the end of this year.  We acknowledge the work of the contractors and Roscommon County Council in helping us to achieve this,” said the utility boss.

Boil water notices are being lifted in Roscommon at the same time that three other new water treatment plants at Lisbrock in south Roscommon, Ballinagard serving Roscommon town and Ballyfarnon serving Arigna, are close to completion.

These supplies are currently on the EPA Remedial Action List and ‘at risk’ of boil water notices being issued.  This risk will be removed when all three plants are fully commissioned by mid-2015, further securing a high quality drinking water supply for Roscommon.