THE ENNIS public water supply has received a clean bill of health from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA audit now clears the way for the partial boil notice, that has been in place since 2005 for 30,000 residents in the greater Ennis area, to be lifted in the coming weeks.
The audit of the newly constructed €9 million permanent treatment plant supply did confirm the presence of cryptosporidium in the raw water that feeds into the system on March 19th, April 29th and May 7th.
However, the bug was not detected in the treated water that goes into the Ennis public water supply on those dates.
Senior Clare County Council engineer Seán Ward said yesterday that the findings of the EPA audit “are quite positive”.
Mr Ward said the new plant met all the challenges during the eight-day commissioning phase in providing the proper quantity and quality of water, in spite of heavy rainfall which in the past had resulted in problems.
He said that if there were no problems over the next 30 days, the council would then be in contact with the Health Service Executive over the lifting of the boil notice.
The EPA audit reported that the temporary treatment plant was not required during the recent past and that the new €9 million plant has been able to deal with demand. The partial boil notice has been in place since June 2005 after an initial outbreak of cryptosporidium.
At Ennis District Court on June 24th, the EPA initiated proceedings against Clare County Council over allowing water, untreated for cryptosporidium, into the Ennis water system over a five-month period last year. The case has been adjourned to September.
