Ten private group water schemes contaminated with E.coli
The majority of the county's private group water schemes were found to be contaminated with E.Coli according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report on the Provision and Quality of Drinking Water in Ireland which was released last week.
The report for 2007-2008, outlined that while Leitrim County Council's public water supply received a good report, it showed that there was much room for improvement needed for private group water schemes in the county.
The report, based on the extensive monitoring programme carried out by Leitrim County Council as required by the Drinking Water Regulations, highlights the fact that the Public Water Supply Schemes in County Leitrim achieved 100% compliance with the microbiological parameters (particularly E.coli) which is the most important indicator of Drinking Water Quality.
In contrast the quality of private group water schemes were substandard with 10 of the 16 schemes monitored contaminated with E.coli.
E.coli is an indicator of whether human or animal waste has entered the water supply.
In a statement from Leitrim County Council to the Leitrim Observer it said, "It should be noted however that the total number of Private Group Water Schemes dropped from 22 in 2006 to 16 in 2007. This drop in the number of private schemes was due to their connection to the Public Water Schemes resulting in the improvement of the quality of these schemes.
"The solution to the Water Quality deficient Group Water Schemes in County Leitrim is their connection to the Public Water Scheme and work on almost all of these schemes is currently underway.
"It is also important to note that this EPA report relates to the year 2007 - further significant progress has been made in 2008 and it is anticipated that all schemes will be compliant by the end of 2009."
The Leitrim county council spokesperson also said, "It should be noted that the Private Group Water Schemes are privately operated and that Leitrim County Council is working actively with these Group Water Schemes to ensure that they are fully compliant with the Drinking Water Regulations at the earliest opportunity.
"In this regard Leitrim County Council, as an interim measure, has installed or is in the process of installing 8 temporary treatment plants on Private Group Water Schemes where the permanent solution may not be completed for the next 12 months. This will have the effect of addressing principle Water Quality issues on these schemes in the immediate short-term."
The over all rate of compliance with the chemical parametric values in all water supplies in 2007 was good with just two exceedances of the lead standard in the Kiltyclogher and South Leitrim Regional supply. Both were due to lead plumbing in private ownership.
But there were a number of aluminium exceedances in the South Leitrim Regional Supply (8 out of 60 samples analysed). The aluminium problems in the South Leitrim Regional supply had the knock on effect of elevated levels in a number of public group water schemes that received their water from the South Leitrim Regional Supply.
Compliance with the indicator parametric values in private group water schemes was poor (78% compliance) and below the national average (92.9%).
There are currently two public water supplies operated by Leitrim County Council on the Remedial Action List of public water supplies.
The EPA reported that Leitrim County Council has indicated that one supply will be replaced and one will have operations improved to ensure the supply can produce safe and secure water.
The EPA has advised all local authorities to install chlorine monitors and alarms at all treatment plants. As of August 2008, Leitrim County Council had installed chlorine monitors and alarms on 5 of 6 supplies.
The EPA received 13 notifications of the failure to meet the parametric value from Leitrim County Council in the period March 2007 to September 2008. The notifications were due to the failure to meet the E.coli (1), coliform bacteria (3), aluminium (3) lead (2) iron(2) trubidty (1) and colour (1) parametric values.
During the period, one restriction of use was put in place in the Dowra supply arising from excessive levels of aluminium in the drinking water. The treatment from this supply originates in Cavan.
This is the EPA's second report on drinking water quality following the making of Regulations in 2007 providing for a greater level of consumer protection. The Regulations require local authorities to notify the EPA and the Health Service Executive where there is a potential risk to human health, and to comply with their directions.
Frank Feighan TD says that despite the fact that the EPA Report on drinking water out last week has highlighted the perilous quality of our water supplies with the EPA saying that the only answer is ongoing investment in the water system, the Government has insisted that cutbacks are the way to go.
"No amount of spin by the Minister can hide the fact that the country is going backward when it comes to the quality of our drinking water," said Deputy Feighan quoting that one third of public water supplies pose a risk to human health and that E-coli levels in Ireland are 30 times those in the UK.
"In the Budget, Minister cut water funds by €40 million and abolished programmes such as REPS. This will end up costing the State millions. Fines from Europe for breaching EU Water Framework Directive will make up some of that cost as will the fact that the longer we leave our water infrastructure without improving it, the more it will cost.
Ireland already loses a massive percentage of our water through simple leakage and this is bound to get worse."
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Tuesday 22 May 2012
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