Boil Water Notice Re-Issued For Those Supplied By Leixlip Water Treatment Plant

A Boil Water notice has been re-issued for households and businesses supplied by the Leixlip Water Treatment Plant.

Irish Water, in consultation with the HSE and Fingal County Council, have issued the new notice "as a precaution" to protect the health of customers. It is the second time a Notice has been issued for this supplier, which is understood to affect some 600,000 customers.

Due to heavy rain, turbidity (cloudy water due to suspended particles levels) in the source water for the old Leixlip Plant exceeded acceptable levels. Plant operators reacted quickly before alarms were activated and shut down the old plant to stop this water entering the network. There were no issues at the new plant, where the level of turbidity was managed by the newer technology on site. It was essential to re-start production at the old plant, which produces 20% of drinking water for Dublin, otherwise significant restrictions and outages would be inevitable. As Irish Water cannot guarantee the quality the water from the old plant, a Boil Water Notice is now in place.

Speaking about the Boil Water Notice, Eamon Gallen, Irish Water's General Manager said: "Irish Water acknowledges and apologises for the impact and inconvenience caused by this Boil Water Notice to homes and businesses. We are very disappointed that a Boil Water Notice has to be imposed again but as we outlined the last time, our number one priority is the public health and the safety and well-being of our customers.

"The choice we were faced with was customers having a severely restricted water supply for a long period of time or having water for sanitation purposes such as showering and flushing of toilets. We were left with no option but to resume production at the old plant in the knowledge that a Boil Water Notice would then be necessary. We will work with Fingal County Council to get the Boil Water Notice lifted as soon as possible, subject to consultation with the EPA and HSE."

As with the last Boil Water Notice, approximately 600,000 people are impacted. The areas impacted are the same as previously parts of Fingal, areas in Dublin City Council, parts of South Dublin County Council, parts of Kildare and Dunboyne in Meath.

Irish Water is in the process of contacting registered vulnerable customers who are affected by this Boil Water Notice to advise them.

(MH/CM)