UPDATE 5.15PM Kilcloon water ban lifted
Irish Water has confirmed the "do not drink, do not wash notice" has been lifted with immediate effect for all customers in the greater Kilcloon area .
Tanaiste Simon Coveney had earlier today said in the Dail that the water problems in Kilcloon "were being fixed."
He told Deputy Thomas Byrne that the mechanical failure that caused the problem has been addressed and the system is being flushed to get it clear of the high levels of chlorine.
Deputy Byrne told the Dail that children had suffered what their parents had described as "chemical burns" from the water.
A serious malfunction to the chlorine dosing equipment located at the Altech Booster station on the Dunboyne – Summerhill road was the source of the major health alert issued to over 1,000 households yesterday.
An Irish Water spokesperson said it was only when the HSE was fully confident that the water was once again safe to use that they advised them to lift the notice.
"Our investigations have indicated that an operational failure on a chlorine booster caused a very gradual over-chlorination of the water. This over-chlorination built gradually to the point where customers could smell the excess and told us that they were feeling unwell.
"Irish Water would like to sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused by this incident and thank customers for their patience in complying with this notice. Any customers with any health concerns should please contact their GP."
Families in the area had been complaining of sickness and rashes and one pregnant woman had an emergency scan as she feared for her baby's health.
Jana Lunden of Staffordstown said she first noticed the smell on Sunday or Monday and mentioned it on the Dunboyne Facebook Page.
"When I got out of the bath, I smelled as if I had been swimming and my nose was burning.
"My skin felt bad and I felt off for a few days. I am 20 weeks pregnant so I had an emergency scan, as I was a bit worried, but everything is ok."
"My daughter was off her food for three or four days."
Aneta Chacala said her family had all been under the weather.
"I had a terrible migraine and had been drinking water to help it, but it was only making it worse. My daughter was at a doctors with a rash. My scalp wa really itchy after washing my hair."
Two of Aneta's friends reported the smell on Monday to Irish Water.
"They were both told to put the water in the fridge and the smell would go."
"It is appalling to think they ignored their complaint and only investigagted when our local TD got involved," she said.
According to Irish Water a sample reading taken at Kilcloon School indicated a chlorine level of 6.9 mg/l which is excessive (Max limit is 5.0 mg/l).
In a statement yesterday afternoon Irish Water told Cllr O'Reilly that "an outage notification is currently being placed on http://www.water.ie advising of a water quality issue in the served network and customers will experience water disruptions for the next 12 hours."
The no consume, no bathe order remained in place this morning.
The HSE had advised to include a No Drinking or Bathing advice in the outage notification. Bottled water stored in Dunshaughlin Water Treatment Plant was distributed to affected customers. This included Kilcloon Church.