Galway has been hit by a water contamination crisis for the third time this year. Thousands of residents in the south of the county have been issued with a "boil water" notice after bacteria was discovered in the public supply.
People living in the Clarinbridge, Kilcolgan and Ballinderreen areas have been told not to use tap water and to boil all water for cooking or drinking until further notice.
High measures of the organism clostridium perfringens, which can cause gastrointestinal illness, have been discovered in the public supply. The organism is also regarded as an indicator of cryptosporidium, which contaminated the Galway city area supply for almost 100,000 people for five months earlier this year.
This latest water alert comes less than two months after the cryptosporidium crisis ended in the city and weeks after an E-coli scare in the water system in the suburb of Knocknacarra. Galway County Council has advised householders in the south of the county that the "boil water" notice has been introduced as a precautionary measure.
Local PD Councillor Jim Cuddy has called for the fast-tracking of a new sewerage system for the area. "I have been assured by the county manager that his people are working flat out to find the source of this contamination."
Brian McDonald
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Showing posts with label galway water. Show all posts
Showing posts with label galway water. Show all posts
Thursday, 8 November 2007
Third water crisis hits Galway homes
Galway has been hit by a water contamination crisis for the third time this year. Thousands of residents in the south of the county have been issued with a "boil water" notice after bacteria was discovered in the public supply.
People living in the Clarinbridge, Kilcolgan and Ballinderreen areas have been told not to use tap water and to boil all water for cooking or drinking until further notice.
High measures of the organism clostridium perfringens, which can cause gastrointestinal illness, have been discovered in the public supply. The organism is also regarded as an indicator of cryptosporidium, which contaminated the Galway city area supply for almost 100,000 people for five months earlier this year.
This latest water alert comes less than two months after the cryptosporidium crisis ended in the city and weeks after an E-coli scare in the water system in the suburb of Knocknacarra. Galway County Council has advised householders in the south of the county that the "boil water" notice has been introduced as a precautionary measure.
Local PD Councillor Jim Cuddy has called for the fast-tracking of a new sewerage system for the area. "I have been assured by the county manager that his people are working flat out to find the source of this contamination."
Brian McDonald
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
People living in the Clarinbridge, Kilcolgan and Ballinderreen areas have been told not to use tap water and to boil all water for cooking or drinking until further notice.
High measures of the organism clostridium perfringens, which can cause gastrointestinal illness, have been discovered in the public supply. The organism is also regarded as an indicator of cryptosporidium, which contaminated the Galway city area supply for almost 100,000 people for five months earlier this year.
This latest water alert comes less than two months after the cryptosporidium crisis ended in the city and weeks after an E-coli scare in the water system in the suburb of Knocknacarra. Galway County Council has advised householders in the south of the county that the "boil water" notice has been introduced as a precautionary measure.
Local PD Councillor Jim Cuddy has called for the fast-tracking of a new sewerage system for the area. "I have been assured by the county manager that his people are working flat out to find the source of this contamination."
Brian McDonald
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Wednesday, 11 July 2007
Galway city water alert continues
Galway's "boil water" alert is expected to continue indefinitely for 70,000 city
dwellers, extending right through the annual film fleadh, arts festival and race
week.
However, 20,000 people living in an arc extending from Tuam to Athenry,
Claregalway and Oranmore should be able to resume drinking their tap water
immediately, Galway's incident response team said yesterday.
Addressing a press briefing, the response team, involving the two local
authorities and the Health Service Executive West was reluctant to give a
definitive time scale for lifting the four-month-long alert in the city area.
The alert was put in place in mid-March in response to detection of
unseasonally high levels of the cryptosporidium parasite, which causes
gastrointestinal illness. Most laboratory confirmed cases of the illness involved
the hominis version of the parasite, caused by human sewage. To date no
one source has been identified.
Just under 50 people among 238 reported cases had to go to hospital, HSE
West's public health director Dr Diarmuid O'Donovan confirmed yesterday. He
estimated that up to five times the number of laboratory confirmed cases may
have occurred in the Galway community.
Fewer than 10 cases, mainly affecting young children, became seriously ill
and all had now recovered, Dr O'Donovan said.
Rod Killeen, senior engineer with Galway County Council, said that the "clock
would start ticking" towards a clear supply when the old Terryland waterworks
in the city was decommissioned. Under pressure from business interests, the
local authorities had originally set June 15th as the target date. The city
council then admitted in early June that there had been a "slide" in meeting
the deadline.ഊ"Complex engineering works" at the Luimnagh [ Tuam] waterworks plant
involved installation of treatments to remove the cryptosporidium parasite
which prompted the alert, Mr Killeen and his city counterpart, Ray Brennan,
told yesterday's briefing.
They said that clear criteria had been set out by the HSE and the
Environmental Protection Agency to lift the boil water notice, and Luimnagh's
upgraded plant now had clean water, safe for human consumption.
The HSE West has said that no additional cases of cryptosporidiosis have
been confirmed by laboratories in recent weeks, and occurrence of the
potentially serious illness is now approaching "background levels" for this time
of year.
HSE West is advising people with impaired immune systems to continue to
follow their doctors' advice on boiling water.
Lorna Siggins
© 2007 The Irish Times
dwellers, extending right through the annual film fleadh, arts festival and race
week.
However, 20,000 people living in an arc extending from Tuam to Athenry,
Claregalway and Oranmore should be able to resume drinking their tap water
immediately, Galway's incident response team said yesterday.
Addressing a press briefing, the response team, involving the two local
authorities and the Health Service Executive West was reluctant to give a
definitive time scale for lifting the four-month-long alert in the city area.
The alert was put in place in mid-March in response to detection of
unseasonally high levels of the cryptosporidium parasite, which causes
gastrointestinal illness. Most laboratory confirmed cases of the illness involved
the hominis version of the parasite, caused by human sewage. To date no
one source has been identified.
Just under 50 people among 238 reported cases had to go to hospital, HSE
West's public health director Dr Diarmuid O'Donovan confirmed yesterday. He
estimated that up to five times the number of laboratory confirmed cases may
have occurred in the Galway community.
Fewer than 10 cases, mainly affecting young children, became seriously ill
and all had now recovered, Dr O'Donovan said.
Rod Killeen, senior engineer with Galway County Council, said that the "clock
would start ticking" towards a clear supply when the old Terryland waterworks
in the city was decommissioned. Under pressure from business interests, the
local authorities had originally set June 15th as the target date. The city
council then admitted in early June that there had been a "slide" in meeting
the deadline.ഊ"Complex engineering works" at the Luimnagh [ Tuam] waterworks plant
involved installation of treatments to remove the cryptosporidium parasite
which prompted the alert, Mr Killeen and his city counterpart, Ray Brennan,
told yesterday's briefing.
They said that clear criteria had been set out by the HSE and the
Environmental Protection Agency to lift the boil water notice, and Luimnagh's
upgraded plant now had clean water, safe for human consumption.
The HSE West has said that no additional cases of cryptosporidiosis have
been confirmed by laboratories in recent weeks, and occurrence of the
potentially serious illness is now approaching "background levels" for this time
of year.
HSE West is advising people with impaired immune systems to continue to
follow their doctors' advice on boiling water.
Lorna Siggins
© 2007 The Irish Times
Wednesday, 13 June 2007
Human waste main cause of Galway contamination
The contamination of drinking water with human waste is the primary cause of Galway's cryptosporidium crisis, according to the latest laboratory results.
Tests on 123 samples from people who fell ill during the outbreak show they were infected with a cryptosporidium strain normally found in human waste.
Just 25 samples were identified as having been caused by cryptosporidium from animal waste.
The exact cause of the contamination in Lough Corrib, which is the source of the city's water supply, has yet to be identified, but the human waste source had previously been played down by officials.
Possible sources include a number of facilities pumping almost untreated sewage into the lake. The possibility of septic tank sewage been swept into the lake via rivers has also been investigated.
Details of the tests emerged as the city prepares to host a major national conference today and tomorrow on water quality.
Organised by the Environmental Protection Agency, it was booked months before the water crisis emerged in Galway.
The latest figures show 236 cases of cryptosporidium were confirmed in the Galway area since the beginning of the year. However, there has been a tailing-off of cases in the regionto three a week, which is a normal "background" number of cases expected for an area of its size.
However, the drinking water ban, in place since March, is unlikely to be lifted until the end of next month. The HSE has indicated to Galway City and Galway County Council that it would only lift the notice when problems at the Terryland water treatment works are addressed.
Liam Reid
© 2007 The Irish Times
Tests on 123 samples from people who fell ill during the outbreak show they were infected with a cryptosporidium strain normally found in human waste.
Just 25 samples were identified as having been caused by cryptosporidium from animal waste.
The exact cause of the contamination in Lough Corrib, which is the source of the city's water supply, has yet to be identified, but the human waste source had previously been played down by officials.
Possible sources include a number of facilities pumping almost untreated sewage into the lake. The possibility of septic tank sewage been swept into the lake via rivers has also been investigated.
Details of the tests emerged as the city prepares to host a major national conference today and tomorrow on water quality.
Organised by the Environmental Protection Agency, it was booked months before the water crisis emerged in Galway.
The latest figures show 236 cases of cryptosporidium were confirmed in the Galway area since the beginning of the year. However, there has been a tailing-off of cases in the regionto three a week, which is a normal "background" number of cases expected for an area of its size.
However, the drinking water ban, in place since March, is unlikely to be lifted until the end of next month. The HSE has indicated to Galway City and Galway County Council that it would only lift the notice when problems at the Terryland water treatment works are addressed.
Liam Reid
© 2007 The Irish Times
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