The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
Irish Water has dampened claims about water discolouration in the South East Clare area saying there are no issues with water quality.
Councillor Cathal Crowe had requested Irish Water to test the quality of water coming into homes in South-East Clare from the Castletroy Reservoir in Limerick, following complaints about discolouration.
Several thousand residents’ water is piped through Limerick City to homes in Meelick, Parteen, Ardnacrusha, Westbury, Shannon Banks, Carraig Midhe and parts of Cratloe.
According to Councillor Crowe, residents have complained of discolouration in the water for the past few months.
“I saw this discolouration in my own tap water on Tuesday, December 29. There was a yellow tinge to the water as it flowed and it took some time for the dirty sediments in the water to fully settle. I poured a glass of bottled spring water to compare and contrast the two – the difference was very obvious.
“With a lot of the administrative staff in Irish Water on Christmas holiday leave, I took to Twitter to highlight the problem. The following morning a lady from their customer services department phoned me to say that they would arrange for the matter to be investigated,” he said.
“There is a possibility that the discolouration of tap water could be as a result of the River Shannon being in flood but many of the constituents that I have interacted with on social media over the last few days are of the view that it is a longer running problem. I hope that a swift investigation should bring clarity to the matter,” he added.
In a statement Irish Water said there are “no water quality issues in South-East Clare areas mentioned by Councillor Cathal Crowe”.
“Irish Water continuously carries out routine testing at all our water treatment plants and are continuing to monitor the effects of recent weather events on water quality.
“We wish to reassure our customers that on-going testing has confirmed that there has been no detected change in the colour of drinking water supplied to these areas in South-East Clare.
“Irish Water would also like to reassure customers that our 1890 278 278 helpline is open 24/7. If customers have any concerns about their drinking water they can contact a member of our team at any time, “a spokeswoman stated.
Dan Danaher
