A large crowd which included County Council and Dáil representatives attended a meeting at Skeheenarinky School in South Tipperary on Thursday evening to discuss the recent discovery of E. coli in the Burncourt Water Supply Scheme.
The anger of those assembled was very apparent, especially when residents contributed information gleaned from EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) reports and NDP (National Development Plan) reports from the last several years. A year 2000 report from the EPA highlighted the serious condition of the water supply in the Clonmore South and the Skeheenarinky Supplies both of which contained high levels of faecal coliforms at that time. It would appear that nothing has changed in 2009, as the recent E. coli outbreak in the area would demonstrate.
Other residents pointed to reports that showed that the money – over €6 m (six million euro) – to upgrade the Burncourt Water Supply Scheme had been approved by the then minister as far back as 2004. In spite of several Dáil questions from Deputy Tom Hayes and Deputy Mattie McGrath, the final go-ahead has never been given. This is one of the reasons for the anger and frustration of the consumers of the Burncourt water. The Minister and the Department of the Environment blame the County Council for the delays while the County Council insist the delay and stalling tactics are firmly with the Department in Dublin.
Residents were also angry at the difficulty they have expeienced in getting answers regarding the cause of the recent outbreak which resulted in boil notices being issued to several dozen houses. They asked how the Council could describe the E. coli problem as being confined to one area when the temporary remedial works were being carried out at the source of the water – Glengarra river. If the water is contaminated and not being adequately treated at source, then all the homes on that water scheme are at risk and should be on Boil Notices. These homes and schools are in Burncourt, Skeheenarinky and Ballyporeen. The Glengarra water also serves parts of Clogheen and Cahir.
Cllr. Marie Murphy, Cllr. Liam Ahern (Chairman of the County Council), and Deputies Mattie McGrath and Tom Hayes attended the meeting and spoke. All are supportive of the residents and have agreed to work together to have the Burncourt Water Scheme upgrade unbundled from the Fethard Scheme, and will endeavour to have the works fast-tracked so as to restore confidence in the area’s drinking water. A final note from one resident was that if the water affecting an equal number of Minister Gormley’s constituents in Dublin had E. coli in it, the water quality of that area would be immediatly restored. Nothing less will be accepted for the Burncourt Water Scheme.
All were agreed at last night’s meeting that the staff at the County Council Water Deparment were doing an excellent job under difficult circumstances and they were probably just as frustrated as the people at the meeting. Further meetings are to take place, and in the meantime, all the homes on the Burncourt Water supply scheme are urged to lobby Minister Gormley, demand separation of the Burncourt and Fethard schemes so as to expedite both scheme upgrades, demand clean water for our homes and schools, and an end to the stalling tactics of the past several years..
The role of the HSE (Health Service Executive) was also discussed at Thursday’s meeting and surprise expressed that the HSE claimed there was no evidence of illness in the area in spite of the fact that dozens of residents have reported having Gastrointestinal illnesses for some time past.
What a brilliant piece of reporting. Well done to whoever wrote it.