Irish Water changeover leaves Galway village high and dry

After years of waiting for the completion of a regional water supply scheme, residents in Carraroe have now discovered that it may never happen — and, even worse, that their drinking water may cause cancer.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has confirmed that five samples taken from Carraroe’s public water supply this year showed much higher levels of THMs (trihalomethanes) than those acceptable under World Health Organisation guidelines.

THMs are a group of organic chemicals formed when chlorine reacts with naturally occurring organic matter in water before it is filtered.

A former NUI Galway Professor of Chemistry who now runs his own water consultancy company, Micheál Ó hÉidhin, speaking on Raidio na Gaeltachta’s Iris Aniar programme, said he would have concerns at levels which exceed the WHO recommended levels — 100 microgram per litre.

In October a sample showed a reading of 120.1 µg/l and that it was as high as 153 µg/l in June. The other three readings taken in April, July and August were up to 38µg/l over the accepted level.

Water should be filtered first to take away the organic matter before being treated with chlorine, he said, to avoid THMs occurring in a public drinking water supply. THMs are also environmental pollutants, and many are considered carcinogenic.

Correspondence between the EPA and Irish Water show that the latter has no long-term plan for the Carraroe water supply and that the EPA has threatened them with prosecution if they don’t comply with EU regulations.

The Carraroe water scheme is one of many such projects started by Galway County Council but which are now under Irish Water’s remit.

The Council has spent up to €3.5million to date  (€1 million last year alone) on laying pipes for the Carraroe scheme so that water could be sourced from a bigger lake, Glennachmhuirinn, five miles away.

Irish Water is now reviewing this project and has only committed to a short-term upgrade of the existing water source right in Carraroe village.

This week, Carraroe resident and Senator, Trevor Ó Clochartaigh described it as “scandalous” that Irish Water would put financial reasons ahead of public health.

“Carraroe has been waiting for nearly 50 years for good drinking water and we had certainly been expecting that a project started by the Council would be completed,” he said.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.