One week on from the boil water notice, which affected 600,000 Irish Water customers, reporter Béibhinn Thorsch spoke to some of those impacted.
According to the water.ie website, the most common reason for issuing a boil water notice is where routine testing of the drinking water supply has shown the presence of harmful bacteria or pathogens. If such results are confirmed, it consults with the HSE to that ensure an appropriate advisory notice is issued immediately.
There are some cases where a boil water notice is issued, even if the test results have not been confirmed, such as when the disinfection system has failed or where a pollution event has occurred.
Dublin City University (DCU) in Glasnevin was one prominent Northside institution affected last week, with its recently installed multiple water fountains across the campus blocked off and signposted as unusable to students. During the crisis, the on-campus canteen and Londis stopped serving coffee.
Students living in the affected areas spoke to us about the impact of the notice. Third year DCU student Isabella Finn, from Santry, said: “In my house we use water filtration jugs for drinking so the fact that we now have to boil the water before we put it through the filter jugs is just really time consuming. We are finding it difficult to boil and then filter enough drinking water for four adults and a dog.”
Another DCU student, Gemma Robotham, who studies communications and lives in Sherlockstown in Kildare, said that despite her specific area not being named in the boil water notice, she still felt its effects. Sherlockstown is just 10 minutes from Straffan, an affected area.
“It’s been difficult to source even bottled water around the Ballymun area,” she said. “The only still water available is flavoured so I've been stuck drinking strawberry water.”
It had been reported that the water from the treatment plant in Leixlip contained cryptosporidium and giardia, which, when consumed, may cause gastrointestinal issues. The water system was continuously tested over the next few days until tests came back entirely clear. The boil water notice was eventually lifted on Friday, October 25.