Concern that brown water from taps on Cork's northside becoming 'normal'

Residents on the northside of Cork city say discoloured water is again coming from their taps, and expressed fears that the issue is becoming “normalised”.

People from Mayfield, Knocknaheeny, and Shanakiel have been raising concerns of discoloured water coming from their taps — an occurrence which is all too familiar to them.

According to several householders, there have been prolonged spells of brown water coming from taps in their homes, and a visible fall in water pressure since last Saturday.

One social media user said that while they had observed “no smell” from the discoloured water, it was coming out of taps in “varying shades of cloudy brown/yellow”.

They said they reported the issue to Uisce Éireann and were advised that it could be “a few hours [or] a few days” before returning to normal. This is despite the fact that there was no notification of a disruption to supply on Uisce Éireann’s supply and service map.

'Amber brown'

A person in the Knocknaheeny area said their water had been “pouring a lovely shade of amber brown for about an hour” on Monday.

Another resident, in Mayfield, said they were also experiencing brown-water issues.

They said they had reported a “major issue” to Uisce Éireann regarding a fall-off in their water pressure.

In a social media post, a consumer in Shanakiel said that residents “wouldn’t chance the tap water anymore” due to the ongoing issues.

Concerns regarding water quality in these areas have been ongoing.

However, Uisce Éireann said it had only received two complaints about water quality in the northside of the city since before last weekend.

Cork city North West ward People Before Profit-Solidarity councillor Brian McCarthy told The Echo a lot of people have stopped reporting it, as they see it as a waste of time.

Normalised

He added that Uisce Éireann appears to have no plan for tackling the problem. “It’s been going on for so long now,” said Mr McCarthy

“People still have to get up and go to work, put food on the table and get the kids to school — it’s horrible, but it’s become normalised.

“It’s causing serious hardship for people, the amount they have to spend on bottled water, and on appliances, and clothes getting ruined.

“Even if the water clears up, they’ll never go back to using tap water — people don’t trust it, they’re concerned for their family’s health,” he added.

An Uisce Éireann spokesperson said it got only two reports regarding water discolouration in recent days.

“Since Friday, there have been two reports of discolouration on the northside of Cork city,” the spokesperson said. “One of those was logged in the Mayfield area and appears to be an isolated incident.

“There were no reports of discolouration logged in Knocknaheeny,” they added.

“We continue to strongly encourage customers to report any instances of discolouration, as each report is investigated and actioned.

“It is important to note that the Lee Road Water Treatment Plant operates 24/7, seven days a week, and treatment processes do not differ between weekdays, weekends, or bank holidays.”