THE combination of flooding and the absence of a public sewerage treatment plant have been blamed for the introduction of a precautionary boil notice for residents in South-East Clare and County Limerick.

Limerick County Council and Clare County Council have confirmed that a precautionary boil notice has been put in place in Montpelier, O’Briensbridge and Bridgetown following consultation with the HSE.
The notice, which affects approximately 500 individuals, was issued after Limerick County Council’s water services section detected a deterioration in water quality in the Montpelier Water Supply Scheme, which serves all three villages.
O’Briensbridge community group chairman, Mick Murtagh, told The Clare Champion that the lack of a sewerage scheme in the village increased the risk of water contamination from a local well in times of severe flooding.
Mr Murtagh said sewerage had come up through the pipes of a number of houses in neighbouring Montpelier, which had presented additional difficulties for residents battling to keep floodwaters at bay.
He said the River Shannon came within inches of causing serious flooding in O’Briensbridge last week and added that a number of houses had a lucky escape thanks to the hard work of the army and Clare County Council. Four or five people in Montpelier had to be evacuated, he said, and more houses were under threat from floodwaters as water levels in the River Shannon remain high.
The councils are advising members of the public served by the scheme not to drink the water f unless it is boiled, while alternative sources are being advised for at-risk groups. Members of the public are requested to advise the county council of elderly or disabled residents, who may require special assistance. The council has also asked for information on unoccupied residences and how the occupier/owner may be contacted.
Clare County Council has drawn up plans to construct a €2 million wastewater plant in O’Briensbridge, which is designed to cater for a population equivalent of 2,000.
According to documents lodged with the planning authority, the council intends to install a modular unit for a population equivalent of 500 and this would be increased in stages of 500 as development demands.
All sewage from Montpelier, O’Briensbridge and Bridgetown will be pumped into the new facility in O’Briensbridge for treatment and discharge to the Ardnacrusha Headrace.
O’Briensbridge only has a number of small sections of foul network serving public and private developments. A communal septic tank serves a number of houses in the Millbrook area and several businesses in the village, while the remainder of dwellings are served by septic tanks.
Bridgetown is catered for by a combination of foul and surface water gravity sewers with two surface water pipelines discharging directly to the Black River near the bridge, one flowing from  south to north, the other flowing from north to south.
Clonboy and Riverdale housing estates are served by foul and surface water sewers discharging to the Black River downstream to the east of the village.
The majority of the town is served by septic tanks with Clonboy facilitated by a non-operational extended aeration tank and Riverdale by a package wastewater treatment plant.
Montpelier in County Limerick doesn’t have a main foul or storm sewer network. A housing scheme and a number of other buildings in the centre of the village are served by communal septic tanks, while the remainder of the village is served by septic tanks.