Boil water notice returns to Ballyvaughan

A boil water notice affecting 700 people in North Clare will remain in place until at least next week, Clare County Council has confirmed.

Water quality in Ballyvaughan has been an ongoing issue and earlier this week, the local authority and the HSE advised consumers on the Ballyvaughan Public Water Supply as well as a number of other group schemes not to use tap water except for flushing toilets until further notice.
On Tuesday, this was downgraded to a boil notice, the second such notice this year.
The last one was announced back in June and continued for a week during which the An Post Tour De Burren took place, bringing 1,700 cyclists to the area.
“While the council anticipates that the current notice will remain in place until next week at least, weather patterns and HSE guidance will dictate any status change.
“Earlier this week we provided a number of tankers but as the status has been downgraded to boil notice these tankers will no longer be necessary,” according to Hugh McGrath, a senior engineer with the Water Services Section of Clare County Council.
Clare County Council has said that the completion of a €5 million water scheme contract is required to provide a long-term resolution to the water quality issues experienced in the Ballyvaughan area.
Mr McGrath said the new scheme would deliver the required improvements to the quality of water being supplied to consumers in the area.
“While a degree of reluctance has been expressed by a small number of consumers to embrace the new regional supply, the current issues in Ballyvaughan demonstrate clearly the imperative need for connection to the regional scheme.
“From the council’s perspective, as the water authority, we are extremely concerned about these incidents and are most anxious to get the regional supply connected as soon as possible,” he explained.
“We expect this to happen by the end of 2010. In particular, we would like to thank the people of Ballyvaughan for their patience to date in delivery of this project,” he added.
Mr McGrath stated, “The existing supply at Newtown is not viable long term. The existing borehole water supply is disinfected before being supplied to consumers but, because of the extreme vulnerability of the source, this level of treatment cannot guarantee our ability to consistently supply water that meets the required quality standards.
“With regard to the current issues, we are in liaison with the other statutory bodies, including HSE and EPA, and we are not aware of any health issues relating to the existing supply to date.
“Ultimately however, we require connection to the regional supply scheme to ensure confidence in our ability to meet our quality requirements into the future and to mitigate against health issues,” he concluded.
Updated advice on steps to take regarding a boil notice has been issued through the HSE. Water for consumption should be boiled for one minute on a ‘rolling boil’ to ensure thorough sterilisation.
The areas affected include the Ballyvaughan Public Water Supply as well as group schemes in Muckinish, Gleninagh, Gregans, Knocknagrough and Newtown.