RESIDENTS of Macroom can’t trust their water to even brush their teeth, a Cork North West TD said, as the town remains under a ‘boil water’ notice.
The boil water notice is in place around Macroom, Carrigadrohid, and Canovee, affecting more than 4,000 people.
The boil water notice was first issued by the water authority on August 27th and remained in place until September 25th, when it was lifted for five days before being issued again on September 30th.
Uisce Éireann blamed ‘a combination of elevated levels of turbidity and operational issues at Macroom Water Treatment Plant caused by adverse weather’ for the renewed boil water notice.
‘There was a short reprieve and, bang, it was down again within five days.
That is putting pressure on local residents, who have to boil or buy water, for a prolonged period,’ Cork North West Fianna Fáil Deputy Aindrias Moynihan told the Dáil this week.
He spoke to one resident ‘not able to wash a head of lettuce or brush her teeth. She cannot depend on the quality of the water; she has to boil it.
Others have to buy bottled water and there is a cost associated with that. This goes on and on.’
He said the situation is repeated every winter.
‘The answers we want from Irish Water concern the pathway out of this, what it is doing to resolve it, what steps are being taken and when people can depend on the water quality in the Canovee, Carrigadrohid and Macroom area.’
‘People in Macroom, Carrigadrohid and Canovee deserve some answers from Irish Water.’
Minister of State at the Department of Finance Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said she understands from Irish Water that ‘its crews are working to lift the notice as quickly and as safely as possible’ but with continued high demand on the supply, the reservoir is only now refilling.
Deputy Moynihan said residents need to know the long-term plan.
‘We have been subject to one since August and it is possible that we will face more in the winter ahead. That is not fair to locals. Irish Water needs to be upfront and tell people what it is it is doing, how it is going to solve this problem in the long term and how it will bring about that solution as quickly as possible.’
