Boil water notice remains in place in area of Tipperary as well as night-time restrictions

Uisce Éireann is making every effort to safeguard water supply for Tipperary customers on the Ardfinnan Regional Supply Scheme, as work continues on measures to lift the Boil Water Notice and to increase water levels at reservoirs in Goatenbridge WTP, Edenmore and Jamestown.

Night time restrictions remain in place and further measures will be considered based on operational assessments of conditions at Goatenbridge Water Treatment Plant. Restrictions will be in place from 10pm tonight until 6am, starting Friday, September 19 and will continue on Saturday night, September 20 and Sunday night, September 21.

The Boil Water Notice was issued on 4 September to protect the health of 11,500 customers due to the presence of cryptosporidium in the raw water source. All consumers affected by this notice must boil their water before drinking.

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The Goatenbridge Water Treatment Plant supplies up to 11,500 customers across Ardfinnan, Goatenbridge, Cahir, Newcastle, Poulmucka, Clerihan and surrounding areas. Approx. 5,000 customers are supplied directly from the plant reservoir, and all other customers are supplied from reservoirs at Edenmore and Jamestown. Building water levels in these reservoirs ensures Uisce Éireann can maintain supply to these customers in the event of any outage or water quality event at the plant.

Reservoir levels are low across the network which has resulted in significant impact for all customers across the scheme. This is due to high demand, followed by a weather event which interrupted supply at the plant, as well as a significant burst to the raw water main that supplies the Goatenbridge Water Treatment Plant and operational issues at the plant. Operational teams are closely monitoring supply and process teams are also reviewing measures at the plant to optimise treatment processes on site.

Uisce Éireann’s Operation Lead Pierce Faherty acknowledged recent challenges with the water supply and thanked the public for their support. “Goatenbridge Water Treatment Plant relies on a raw water source from the Knockmealdown Mountains that is vulnerable to changing weather conditions and can be difficult to treat following flash rainfall. Our frontline operational teams have been deploying a number of efforts to maintain production at the plant and to safeguard daytime supply across the network.

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We acknowledge the impact on customers and want to assure people we are making every effort to lift the boil water notice as quickly as possible, but only when we can be assured of the water quality. Public health remains our top priority.”