Uisce Éireann have issued a lengthy statement in response to recent criticism of the utility over a number of water outages and boil notices in County Tipperary in recent weeks.
Head of Asset Operations with Uisce Éireann Tom Cuddy will be on Tipp Today tomorrow morning to discuss the situation.
Among the issues Uisce Éireann wish to clarify are:
· A contributor stated that there are problems with all water treatment plants in Tipperary. This is incorrect. Uisce Éireann has made significant strides in identifying and addressing risks to public drinking water supplies. Many of these risks existed for years but only came to light due to the more robust testing and sampling regimes that Uisce Éireann has put in place. In some cases this enhanced testing has resulted in Boil Water Notices being issued to safeguard public health while we put measures in place to address these issues. Currently, there are four public water supplies with a Boil Water Notices in County Tipperary out of a total of 51 water treatment plants across the county. Uisce Éireann has worked to optimise plant operations at each of these locations and sampling of water is underway on each of these schemes. Uisce Éireann is working with Tipperary County Council to lift these notices as soon as it is safe to do so, in consultation with the HSE. Customers can check if their property is included on these Boil Water Notices by visiting the Water Quality section of www.water.ie and entering the property’s Eircode or by calling the Uisce Éireann’s customer care helpline, open 24/7, on 1800 278 278.
· There were three additional Boil Water Notices issued to protect public health, as well as disruptions to water supply impacting approximately 30,000 people, last week and into the August Bank Holiday weekend. These were a direct result of the industrial action taken by local members of the Unite Trade Union and were outside the control of Uisce Éireann.
· It was stated by a contributor that Uisce Éireann publishes information regarding boil water notices on its website and on no other channel. This is not correct. Uisce Éireann issues press statements to all media in Tipperary, including Tipp FM, as well as to all elected representatives in the county on matters relating to outages and drinking water quality. Uisce Éireann also contacts vulnerable customers as well as publishing statements on water.ie and social media channels. In the case of industrial strike action last week, Uisce Éireann arranged for the broadcast of 36 advertisements on Tipp FM over a three day period to highlight the precautionary Boil Water Notices in place in County Tipperary.
· One contributor claimed that water services would be ‘privatised’ from September 20 2023. This is incorrect and misleading. Under the Water
Services Act 2013, the ultimate shareholder of Uisce Éireann is the Irish Government and, on that basis, Uisce Éireann is a state-owned organisation responsible for delivering public drinking water and wastewater services for the people of Ireland. Staff of Uisce Éireann are classified as semi-state employees. The guarantees in the Framework for the Future of Water Services for staff who choose to join Uisce Éireann are very clear. There is no change to terms and conditions, no change to locality, and pension benefits are fully protected.
· The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) is the economic regulator of Uisce Éireann and Uisce Éireann is also regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Uisce Éireann is accountable to the Public Accounts Committee and its financial statements are subject to a dual audit by its commercial statutory auditors and by the Comptroller and Audit General.
· In relation to the future of Poulavanogue Water Treatment Plant, it is important that listeners are made aware that this water treatment plant is on the EPA’s Remedial Action List due to the risk of inadequate treatment. The site on which it is located is not suitable for the construction of a new plant. The source of the plant does not have the capacity to meet Clonmel’s growing needs from a social, economic and housing perspective. For these reasons Uisce Éireann is progressing a significant Capital Project to secure additional water for Clonmel from the Monroe Wellfield.
Uisce Éireann is committed to enabling communities to thrive by continuously upgrading and developing critical infrastructure to support sustainable growth and development.
