This article is from page 7 of the 2008-07-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 7 JPG
CLARE’S largest hospital was left with dangerously low levels of water as a result of reduced pressure in the water mains in the Ennis area.
Ennis fire brigade had to be mobi- lised to help provide water for En- nis General Hospital yesterday. The fire service is expected to remain on standby over the next few days in case their assistance is again required.
Ennis Town Council had to shut off water in parts of Ennis in an effort to divert water to the hospital so that the fire service could pump water to the high level tanks. Ennis General Hos- pital’s main water tanks are located on the roof of the building. Because of problems with water pressure in the town water was not reaching the tanks in adequate amounts.
The hospital confirmed that pa- tients were not affected by the water problems. A spokesman added that the fire service had to be called in to help ensure that the hospitals water tanks are kept full.
Clare County Council confirmed last night that water use restrictions applying to over 30,000 customers in Ennis and its environs had been lifted.
A council spokesman said that as a result of recent intensive rainfall, the quality of raw water entering the Ennis water supply source at Drum- cliffe deteriorated significantly to a
point where its treatment could not be accommodated in the quantities required to respond to demand from Loy eb Ne Ece
Following consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Health Service Execu- tive (HSE), the council decided to partially bypass the filtration system with a view to increasing the quan- tity of water that could be dispatched to consumers.
The spokesman said that the move was designed to replenish the storage levels in reservoirs, restore supply to all consumers and ensure that criti- cal areas such as hospitals and fire service had an adequate volume of supply.
“In reaching this decision, the Council, EPA and HSE are conscious that some of the water being supplied to consumers is unfiltered at the mo- ment. However, all three parties are satisfied that any risk from a public health point of view can be kept to a minimum by full implementation of the partial boil notice to vulnerable groups, which remains in place,’ said county engineer, Tom Tiernan.
“Although bypassing some water around the water filtration system in- troduces the potential risk of crypt- osporidium to vulnerable groups, the need to maintain a critical volume of water supply for personal hygiene is a higher priority for public health.” he said.