MORE than 1,000 water consumers in County Limerick received good news this week following the removal of the Public Water Supply in Hospital from the EPA’s Remedial Action List (RAL).
This, according to Irish Water, follows extensive work to develop a new water source to supply the area and an upgrade of the treatment plant. As a result, the Hospital water supply now has treatment in place to protect against contamination from cryptosporidium.
The new source also ensures that local residents and businesses will have a more secure water supply with a greatly reduced risk of unplanned outages in the future.
“The EPA’s Remedial Action List, or RAL, is the list of ‘at risk’ water supplies. The Hospital supply was on the RAL due to inadequate protection against cryptosporidium,” Ian O’Mahony, Irish Water’s Operations Lead for Limerick, explained.
“Severe issues also emerged during the recent summer drought with the volume of water that could be produced from the existing groundwater source. This resulted in water restrictions being imposed in the area over a period of time.
“To address these two issues, we have developed a new borehole source and upgraded the disinfection system at the Hospital treatment plant. This has removed the cryptosporidium risk and resulted in a much more secure and reliable supply for our customers in the area,” he said.
The water supply in Hospital is now fully compliant with the requirements set out in the European Union Drinking Water Directive and national drinking water regulations.
Separately, over €450,000 was invested to tackle leakage and remove old lead pipes from the water supply network in Hospital during 2018 as part of Irish Water’s Leakage Reduction Programme.
Irish Water is continuing its work to remove the three remaining supplies in County Limerick from the Remedial Action List.
In Croom, new borehole sources are being investigated to provide a more secure supply and remove the risk of cryptosporidium. In Abbeyfeale and Newcastle West, potential issues have been identified in relation to high levels of pesticides in the water supply.
“We are working with a range of other agencies and landowners to raise awareness of the safe use of pesticides and herbicides and better protect these sources.”
