More than 3,300 people in Ballyheigue in Co Kerry have been left without water for several weeks, it has been revealed.
This comes following a 'do not consume' issue from Uisce Éireann earlier this month (October 7).
This notice advised local residents not to use their water for drinking, food preparation, or brushing teeth, with a particular warning placed for children under 12 months. Neither boiling this wter or using domestic water filters will make it safe to drink, but its can be used for personal hygiene, bathing, laundry, flushing toilets or washing of utensils.
It was issued after saltwater was detected in the raw water source supplying Ballyheigue's water treatment plant. It was reported that the first major incident of saltwater intrusion into a deep aquifer in Ireland.
As an alternative, Uisce Éireann provided bottles and a tanker, which provided water for dozens of residents from Ballyheigue.
This affected many residents in the area, with one local, Maurice Harty, a dairy farmer telling RTÉ that he uses the public water supply for his cattle, adding that this ongoing water problem could lead to an animal welfare issue if it does not get resolved quickly.
Uisce Éireann have been looking into potential alternative short term and long term water sources, including sampling and testing water at a several locations, as part of continued efforts from their 'do not consume' notice.
Drinking water has been restored to around 200 customers in Causeway village, while water is also being supplied from Listowel Public Water Supply on a temporary basis.
As for Ballyheigue, the timeline for full restoration of water remains uncertain.
In a statement, Uisce Éireann Regional Operations Senior Manager for Water Operations in the Southwest, Brian O'Leary said that finding a permanent solution to this issue could take months.
"I do want to assure people that, look, it is top priority for us. We have teams of people working on both permanent solutions and also short-term mitigation measures", he said in a statement.
Public health and protection of public health is obviously a top priority for us, but, you know, we certainly won’t have people under a "do not consume" notice for any longer than they need to be," Mr O'Leary said.
"There’s a few things that we’re looking at the moment and we’re progressing them all. That’s looking at groundwater sources in Ballyheigue itself, but also looking at potentially recommissioning an old disused source in Ardfert and laying the pipelines associated with that."
"There’s a few hurdles to jump through before we can get those over the line, but they are some of the permanent options we’re looking at".
"There’s a chance the existing source may recover, but that’s probably more of a long shot and it’s not a sustainable source for the scheme going forward," Mr O'Leary added "We should be in a position in the next kind of two weeks, to start firming up on timelines on a permanent solution here".
"But potentially we could be looking at a number of months here, unfortunately". (Quotes according to RTÉ).
