Gort boil water notice exceeds three-month deadline

A BOIL water notice introduced in Gort earlier this year remains in place despite local authority predictions it would be lifted by the beginning of the summer.

Galway County Council announced the precautionary boil notice in March and said at the time that it expected this to be lifted by early June.
Speaking to The Clare Champion this week, Liam Gavin senior engineer with Galway County Council confirmed that the local authority now hopes to have the notice lifted by the end of this month.
However, even if work is completed in October, one local public representative is unsure as to whether the situation with regard to the town’s water scheme will be any better.
“What they are doing is updating an old reservoir. The works that have gone on with it are far more than what were expected. The company doing the work, when they started, they thought they would be out in three months and they are still not out. I would be a small bit sceptical myself as to whether or not the works on the plant will be a success,” said Councillor Gerry Finnerty.
Councillor Finnerty was not apportioning blame for the delays and problems with the works, adding that “there was a whole treatment system going into the old reservoir to bring the water in to line with the EU directive on drinking water. As I understand it, the contractor found a number of problems with the existing structures when work began.”
The Fianna Fáil county councillor added that while water quality may have been affected during the works, there was a potentially greater problem, which could arise.
“All along, water could have been brought from the reservoir to about three-quarters of Gort with gravity flow alone, that might not be the case in the future if there was a power cut say. From the height of the reservoir, it used to be able to feed the town with gravity flow. With the new design, the water may now have to be pumped to the town so if we do a power cut, water may not be available,” he added.
When the notice was issued earlier this year, the local authority stated: “Galway County Council is continuing upgrading works at the Gort Water Treatment Plant.”
“The purpose of these essential works is to improve the quality of supply. The council expects that this work will take approximately three months to complete.”
During the course of the works, the water supply in the area was to be maintained and while it was treated with filtration and chlorination, the council decided “purely as a precautionary measure, to put in place a boil water notice for the duration of the works”.
For the past 32 weeks, it has been recommended that all users on the scheme boil water before use. Businesses and householders have had to boil water for drinking, preparing food that is not cooked prior to eating, brushing teeth and making ice.
“I know that from what I have heard as the works have gone on, the water quality has improved in some places. It is no longer as badly discoloured as it was. The boil notices is purely precautionary. If you are at home yourself you can probably chance it but when they are working on these systems, there is a chance that some water will get through that has not been filtered. For those serving water to the public they have to boil it yes, or use an alternative source,” stated Councillor Finnerty.
While the local authority expects to be able to lift the boil notice by the end of the month, the possibility of water charges being introduced in the area as part of Budget 2011 is not something that sits easily with the Fianna Fáil councillor.
“I say it is ok to charge for water but if you are charging for a product it must be exemplary and we are charging for a product which, in a lot of the county and country, is not satisfactory,” Councillor Finnerty stated.