Do Not Consume Water Restriction On Achill Island And Adjacent Mainland Lifted With Immediate Affect
Date: 04-09-2020
Issued 4 September 2020 - A Do Not Consume drinking water restriction in place on the Achill Public Water Supply which includes the following group water schemes - Dooniver GWS, Saulia No 2 GWS, Crumpaun GWS, Dooega GWS, Shraheens, Achill GWS, Dugort No 1 GWS, Dugort No. 2 GWS, Dugort East GWS, Valley 1 GWS and Valley 3 GWS has been lifted with immediate effect.
The water quality sampling has confirmed that the water is now safe to drink following a reduction in demand to normal levels and reduced temperatures in the raw water coming from the lake to the water treatment plant.
It was necessary to issue the Do Not Consume notice on Friday, 7 August 2020, following consultation with the HSE due to elevated levels of aluminium in the water supply. Following consultation with the HSE, Irish Water and Mayo County Council are advising customers that the drinking water can now be consumed as normal.
Following the lifting of the notice, Irish Water’s Asset Operations Lead Ger Greally, commented: “Irish Water and Mayo County Council would like to thank the residents, businesses and visitors to Achill who were affected by this notice for their patience and cooperation until demand and temperatures dropped to normal levels. We would like to thank the public for their efforts in conserving water wherever possible and ask them to continue doing so over the weekend while the network refills following the reservoir cleaning.
“We would also like to acknowledge and thank our colleagues in Mayo County Council who worked tirelessly since this notice was issued to ensure customers received a continuous water supply at their taps for essential handwashing and hygiene and at the 28 tankers around the island providing alternative drinking water supplies.
“We would like to also thank the Civil Defence for supporting us in the delivery of bottled water to vulnerable customers.”
Some upgrade works have taken place at the Acorrymore Water Treatment Plant to ensure that if demand rises to an unsustainable level along with a rise in temperatures that the plant will shut down allowing both Irish Water and Mayo County Council time to assess the situation and put plans in place to prevent a further exceedance. All reservoirs on the island have also been cleaned. Customers may experience some intermittent outages this evening and over the weekend as full supply returns to the network following the reservoir cleaning. Meetings are also scheduled between Irish Water and Mayo County Council to discuss longer term solutions to this problem.
Business customers will receive a 40 per cent rebate on the cost of the supply of water to their businesses for the duration of the do not consume notice and this will be back dated to August 7, 2020.
If anyone has any queries they can call the Irish Water customer care helpline 24/7 on 1850 278 278.