Boil notice imposed in Ballyvaughan

A BOIL water notice, introduced on Tuesday, could be in place for the month of February in Ballyvaughan after the supply became polluted earlier this week.

Farmers have been allowed to spread slurry in North Clare since mid-January and according to a representative of the council, it is suspected that this is what has caused the contamination.
“The slurry spreading season has been open again since January 15, so there is no suggestion of wrong doing. However, we believe that slurry found its way into the water once again because the supply is so vulnerable,” explained Hugh McGrath, senior executive engineer, Water Services Clare County Council.
Clare County Council and the Health Service Executive (HSE) advised on Tuesday that consumers on the Ballyvaughan Public Water Supply, including the group water schemes of Muckinish, Gleninagh, Gregans, Knocknagrough and Newtown, should boil water before use for consumption, brushing teeth or food preparation.
“We really want to stress that this is a full boil notice. Previously there had been a precautionary notice in place but this is a full boil notice. This notice may continue until the end of February to avoid any confusion. We expect to be able to transfer supply from the Ballyvaughan scheme to the North Clare Regional Water Supply Scheme coming through Lisdoonvarna from Ennistymon at that time but we will advise people of that when it is happening. We had intended to transfer this over earlier but as a result of the frost we weren’t able to because of leakage and so on,” Mr McGrath continued.
Clare County Council is reminding people that water from the taps should be boiled continuously for one minute and that unboiled water should not be used for drinking, cooking, food preparation, making baby feeds or bottles, brushing teeth, making ice cubes and in coffee machines. The council has water tankers in place at the church car park, the fountain and the national school.