Uisce Éireann ‘continues to address’ Cork city water discolouration issues

Uisce Éireann has said work is continuing to address water discolouration issues for customers in Cork city.

As previously reported in The Echo, after then-named Irish Water opened its new Lee Road water treatment facility in July 2022, the company noted a sharp rise in complaints about water quality as brown and orange discoloured water began to flow from taps in multiple locations across the city.

Uisce Éireann said that progress is being made in a range of areas to address discoluration including its “targeted flushing programme, monitoring of the performance of the Lee Road water treatment plant and water main rehabilitation works”.

In a statement, the company said that “to protect public health, Uisce Éireann has increased sampling, including testing at customers’ taps, on the network, and operational sampling at the water treatment plant.

“In addition, accelerated network improvements are underway and further works are planned to optimise the water supplied.”

Uisce Éireann said it is seeing a positive trend in areas that have been flushed to date and, on this basis, expects these works to lead to further improvements in water quality.

Spikes

However, People Before Profit/Solidarity TD for Cork North Central Mick Barry said Uisce Éireann’s press releases do not chime with the experiences of “the people in Gurranabraher and Farranree who have seen spikes in discoloured water in recent weeks”.

Flushing was recently completed in Gurranbraher and Blarney Street, as well as in the Douglas area and is currently ongoing in the Murmount and Montenotte areas.

Beginning the first week of July, flushing will also take place in the Ballyvolane area over a seven-week period, it said.

“We have identified several other areas for flushing in the Cork city area which are scheduled for completion by the middle of November this year,” a spokesperson said.

Uisce Éireann’s regional operations manager for the southwest Brian O’Leary said that public health remained the company’s top priority, and said “water is safe to drink once it is running clear.

“We continue to advise customers not to drink discoloured water and to contact us directly with any reports of discolouration to help us manage the response in real time and to prioritise reactive works.”