Irish Water Reveals Bacteria Barrier Breach At Ballymore Eustace Water Treatment Plant.

The Kildare facility supplies water to around 750,000 people.

Irish Water has this evening confirmed a partial failure of the coagulation dosing system in Ballymore Eustace water treatment plant.

The Kildare facility is Ireland's larges water treatment centre, and supplies water to 750,000 people in parts of Kildare, Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area.

Irish Water says the incident occurred, out of hours, on August 20th and "The Cryptosporidium barrier, and to a lesser degree the disinfection barrier, were temporarily compromised."

The incident wasn't immediately reported to Irish Water, and came to its attention 12 days later, when an investigation was mounted in to issues created by the failure.

The company says "as the incident had passed, immediate public notification was not required"

It consulted with the Health Service Executive and the EPA.

The site was audited on September 9th, and the HSE, Dublin City Council, Irish Water and the EPA were present.

This has resulted in several actions, including that "Irish Water has increased its presence on site to review the escalation and response protocols. DCC Management and plant staff are working in collaboration with Irish Water staff. Refresher training is being provided by the Irish Water Compliance team to plant engineers and supervisors on how and what water quality incidents should be notified to Irish Water."

Irish Water says the incident there is "now resolved".

Irish Water's Ballymore Eustace Treatment Plant Issues Report:

"On Friday 20/08/2021, the coagulation dosing system in Ballymore Eustace water treatment plant partially failed. The event occurred out of normal business hours. The Cryptosporidium barrier, and to a lesser degree the disinfection barrier, were temporarily compromised. The resultant incident was not initially reported to Irish Water but came to light on investigation of consequential issues at the sludge facility, twelve days after it occurred.

Irish Water immediately consulted with the HSE but as the incident had passed, immediate public notification was not required. Irish Water also formally notified the EPA of the incident, and the site was audited on 9/9/21 with the EPA, HSE, Irish Water and Dublin City Council (DCC) in attendance.

Irish Water is responding in line with its Incident Management Protocols and is in the process of carrying out a post incident and process review. In addition, Irish Water has increased its presence on site to review the escalation and response protocols. DCC Management and plant staff are working in collaboration with Irish Water staff. Refresher training is being provided by the Irish Water Compliance team to plant engineers and supervisors on how and what water quality incidents should be notified to Irish Water. "

Another, separate incident, Irish Water detected an issue Creagh water treatment plant in Wexford on the 26th of August and immediately notified the EPA.

Eamonn Gillen, Irish Water's General Manager,

"Irish Water has engaged again with all Local Authorities on the need to report incidents to allow for timely risk assessments to protect public health. In Gorey and Ballymore Eustace, working with the Local Authorities, additional measures have been put in place to ensure public water supplies are safe to drink. Irish Water is currently engaging via the Workplace Relations Commission with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Local Authorities and Trade Unions as part of talks to create a Single Public Utility (SPU). This incident underlines the importance of creating a SPU where service delivery is controlled and managed by one organisation.

"It is critical that the SPU be progressed as a matter of urgency to transform how water services are structured and delivered. This is the necessary step required to build a world class public water utility and Irish Water is committed to continuing our engagement with all stakeholders through agreed mechanisms and forums in the coming months.”