Two water supply plants fail to meet epa standards

Concern over the quality of two north Meath water supplies has been expressed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in its latest quality of drinking water report.
The Ballinaclose scheme close to Kilmainhamwood “failed to meet e-coli/enterococci standards” according to the report, while the Kells-Oldcastle water supply scheme was identified as having “inadequate treatment for cryptosporidium”.
Cllr Sean Drew expressed his concern at the recent EPA report, which lists a range of remedial actions that Irish Water needs to implement all over the country, including improvements to disinfection systems, better management of water treatment and more investment in robust and resilient infrastructure.
The report identifies the two water treatment plants in north Meath as requiring remedial action. The Kells-Oldcastle supply scheme that serves a population of 8,250 people was identified as having inadequate treatment for cryptosporidium. As an interim measure to minimise the impact, the EPA proposed an investigation into alternative disinfection chemicals at the water treatment plant.However, the actual action programme to resolve the issue long-term, and proposed by the EPA, is “the upgrade of the water treatment plant to include treatment barrier capable of removing cryptosporidium”.

The Ballinaclose water supply scheme serves a population of 200 people. It was identified as having ‘failed to meet e-coli/enterococci standards and needs investigation and improvement to ensure that the root cause of the problem has been rectified’.
As an interim measure to minimise the impact, the EPA proposed that the reservoir be bypassed to improve chlorine levels. In this case, the EPA proposed the upgrading of the water treatment plant as the action programme to resolve the issue long-term.