Ireland’s Second Largest Water Treatment Plant Lifts Boil Water Notice
A boil water notice affecting approximately 600,000 people in the greater Dublin area has been lifted.
The notice was blamed on heavy rain and turbidity due to suspended particles in the source water for the Leixlip water treatment plant, according to the Irish Times.
Residents affected by the boil water notice were told to only use boiled or bottled water.
“The old plant at Leixlip remains vulnerable and Irish Water working with Fingal County Council will be working to minimise the risk of another boil water notice,” said Niall Gleeson, managing director of Irish Water.
Monitoring, staffing and water testing will increase at the plant in order to mitigate the issue. Filters at the old plant will be replaced while still maintaining supply to Dublin.
The Leixlip water treatment plant is the second largest water treatment plant in Ireland, supplying drinking water to consumers in Dublin, Kildare and Meath, which is about 33% of the Greater Dublin Area, reported the EPA in a drinking water audit report.
“If we could, we would shut down the old plant, take it off line and do all the refurbishment at once. This is not possible because 20% of Dublin’s water supply comes from the old plant and we do not have the spare capacity to allow this to happen. We will continue to monitor the plant closely,” said Gleeson.
An earlier boil water warning notice was put in place late in October after a mechanical issue at the Leixlip treatment plant raised concerns about water quality.
The EPA has recommended Irish Water install ultra violet treatment of drinking water at the Leixlip plant as a means to avoid future boil water notices.
The plant has committed to spending more than €65 million upgrading and standardising disinfection systems in more than 850 public drinking water treatment plants, reported the Irish Times.