A crystal clear water crisis

A crystal clear water crisis

ANALYSIS
Claire Egan

DESPITE AN insistence by the Government that Irish drinking water is of top quality, the general public, or at least the Mayo electorate, beg to differ.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern issued a statement last week declaring that ‘Irish drinking water standards are very good’, citing 97.6 per cent compliance with EU standards.
However, the ongoing crisis in Galway city and county and recent figures from the Environmental Protection Agency indicating that one fifth of the country’s drinking supplies are at risk from cryptosporidium contamination has heightened concerns over the quality of public drinking water.
Water is a big issue in Mayo too, with recent poll results indicating that both public and group water supplies are far from adequate.
A Millward Brown IMS poll commissioned by The Mayo News has found that almost half of those surveyed (46 per cent) are dissatisfied with their public water supply and its suitability for drinking directly from the tap, with an alarming 25 per cent saying that their water was rarely to never suitable for drinking. Only 54 per cent indicated that their tap water is suitable for drinking all of the time.
The poll, which was conducted between April 10 and April 14 among 508 adults countywide, queried participants on the quality of their drinking water.
The survey found that over half of all Mayo residents (56 per cent) are connected to a public water supply, with the majority of these people residing in urban areas (86 per cent) as opposed to 46 per cent in rural hinterlands.
One in three overall were found to be members of a group water scheme with over 39 per cent in rural areas connected to a group water scheme. A small minority (seven per cent) have access to their own private water supply, presumably a private water well, while this figure doubles among members of the farming community.
A review of these statistics indicates that those who are connected to a group water scheme have reason to fear contamination of some kind, as only 47 per cent indicate that their water is suitable for consumption from the tap all of the time.
Recent rulings by the EU Court of Justice, which penalised the Irish Government over its failure to abide by EU law and provide clean water supplies to all citizens, and which found that more than half of private water supplies in Cavan, Kerry, Leitrim, Donegal, Sligo and finally Mayo breached the EU’s ecoli standard in 2005 points to an ongoing problem.
In fact, 13 per cent of those connected to a group water scheme indicated that their water is never suitable for drinking directly from the tap – twice the percentage of those connected to a public water supply who gave that response.
It appears from those surveyed that group water schemes face problems in ensuring that their customers’ drinking water is free from contamination. While the survey offers no insight into the specific challenges facing group water schemes in providing top quality water, it is reasonable to assume that the amount of the finance available to guard against contamination problems is not nearly as significant as that available to local authority supplies.
However, the poll results indicate that public water supplies are far from satisfactory either. A direct contrast between public water supplies and group water schemes finds that there is a mere seven per cent satisfaction differential between both, 54 per cent as opposed to 47 per cent.
The alarms bells are ringing loudly as water supplies, both public and group, are found wanting.