Boil water notice still in place

A boil water notice imposed in Gort last March and due to last three months is still in place, albeit after a break of just over one week before Christmas. The notice looks set to be lifted in mid-February, almost a year after it was first announced.

Galway County Council is advising residents in the Gort area to continue to boil water for consumption, despite the opening of a new water treatment plant before Christmas.
The new plant opened in mid-December but only remained operational for a week before damage from freezing conditions throughout December and early January meant that the new plant was taken out of service and consumers in the area were advised to boil water before use.
“Water is being provided in Gort but we have had to reintroduce the boil notice because of what happened in the cold weather.
“The freezing conditions caused huge mechanical problems at the plant, valves froze and units, where the chemical treatment process takes place, froze completely, so we had to take the plant out of service. When a part of the process has to be bypassed, we are obliged to introduce a boil notice. We are now working on the problems caused by the freezing weather and we are expecting to have it back on track and solved in five weeks,” commented Liam Gavin senior, engineer with Galway County Council.
“We are currently undertaking work to make sure the valves and the units that froze in the frost are going to be insulated to prevent this problem reoccurring. All of that is being done now to get back on track and to permanently remove the boil notice in Gort,” he continued.
Mr Gavin said works are being done by the contractor responsible for the construction of the plant and is not costing Galway County Council any additional funds.
“There is a maintenance period and the company retains this for a certain period, six months in this case. All these problems happened within that time so the company are currently working on repairing these,” Mr Gavin explained.
Galway County Council, in the interest of public health, is recommending that all users on the scheme boil water before use and warned that it must be boiled for drinking, drinks made with water, raw food preparation, brushing of teeth and making of ice.
Water can be used for personal hygiene, bathing and flushing of toilets but not for brushing teeth or gargling.
Users are being advised to boil water, allow it to cool, cover and store it in a refrigerator or cold place. “Water from the hot tap is not safe to drink. Domestic water filters will not render water safe to drink,” the council added.
Parents are also being urged to exercise caution in relation to preparing baby feeds. They are being told to use water that has been brought to the boil once and cooled and not to use water that has been reboiled several times.
“Do not use bottled mineral water unless the concentration of minerals is suitable for infants. If bottled water is used for the preparation of infant feeds it should be boiled once and cooled,” the council stated.