This article is from page 10 of the 2007-04-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
THE Deputy Mayor of Ennis has expressed his anger about the provi- sion of subsidised and free water to householders in Galway while local people have been paying for bottled water since a boil notice was intro- duced two years ago.
Councillor Brian Meaney (GP) be- lieves that the “political situation in Galway is what is driving the dif- ference in Government reaction be-
tween the two constituencies”.
‘There is a lot of anger at the differ- ence in treating the water consumers in Clare and Galway. The water crisis has been on going in Galway for the last six weeks. Why wasn’t subsidised water made available to the consum- ers of the Ennis supply six weeks into the crisis that has existed here for the last two years?” he asked.
A cautionary boil notice, affecting around 30,000 people, has been in place for the past two years in En-
nis, Clarecastle, Crusheen, Barefield, Doora, Drumcliffe, Spancilhill and Group Water Schemes on the supply.
Vulnerable sectors of the commu- nity, including patients with weak immune systems, infants and pre- school children, have been advised to continue to boil tap water before eyetsieueeyelaceyee
Previous contaminations of the En- nis water supply occurred after heavy rain following significant spells of dry weather just like in Galway.
Councillor Meaney accused the Government of total indifference on the issue and warned that Ennis could soon be in a similar situation to Galway.
“Despite the installation of a filtra- tion system, the boil notice has been in operation in Ennis and the sur- rounding area for the past two years. Cryptosporidium is already in the water supply and it may only be a matter of time before levels surge and an outbreak occurs like that which is
now affecting Galway,” he said.
The councillor added, “Confidence in the Ennis water supply is low and bottled water is expensive. It seems that this problem is of little conse- quence to the Government, unless the problem becomes so bad that it may cost them votes.
“A lack of infrastructure and a fail- ure to update a dated water supply that leaks millions of litres of water a day, has led to the situation we find ourselves in today.”