Clare County Council and cryptosporidium

Teadrinker

Here's a thing. Clare County Council may be hit by a half a million Euro fine because the Environmental Protection Agency has taken it to to court, and the Council has admitted, that for a period from 1 May 2008 to 21 October 2008 it was breaching an Environmental Protection Agency directive that it cease the practice of allowing water bypass the council’s temporary plant for treating cryptosporidium.

Now, has Clare County Council published an apology for this to the people who were using the water? Has it moved to do something to restore a confidence that should be blown apart as a result of EPA case? Not at all. Instead, if you go into Clare County Council's website today, you will find that last and therefore current public safety notice lifting the general boil notice is dated 1 July 2008 - right within the time frame when they weren't even filtering for cryptosporidium.

The Council may not have been able to deliver us clean water for periods of time. It clearly doesn't even bother its barney to even give us the usual spin and woo back our trust. And why? Because Clare County Council knows one thing very very well - it knows how stupid and apathetic we are.

Dr Kamikazi

True, the water system can always do with a bit of investment. And them old lead pipes can't be that good either.
But more must also be done at the source.
The amount of ****e that goes into the water from farming and septic tanks certainly doesn't help.
But as soon as that is said there's a roar of "nothing to do with me" that goes through the county.
The bacteria has to be in the water that goes into the treatment in the first place and where does that come from?
The Fergus is a good first clue.
The flora that blooms in there can only be the result of too much rubbish (phosphates and human and animal waste) in the water to start with.
The whole approach to water must be changed.
Scrap all septic tanks in favour of connection to a sewage system connected to a decent treatment plant, those who can't be connected should have a bio water treatment system installed.
Stricter guidelines for farms and how much animal waste can be discharged, more enforcement of existing guidelines and inspection of slurry tanks.
The amount of one off housing and livestock in this country is simply too much, sh1t goes into the ground, into the water and out your tap.
A treatment plant that tries to remove the existing impurities is merely a band aid.
There also has to be a good water treatment strategy and preventing waste entering the fresh water system in the first place is vital.
All this costs money and will eventually lead to watercharges.
And unless that happens, we get to enjoy the famous Ennis water, the water with character!

Gregor Samsa

But the July 08 notice says that the filtration bypass was done in consultation with the EPA (and the HSE), and it explicitly notes that it increases the risk of cryptosporidium, and so the partial boil notice was still in place. So it's not like they were actually hiding anything. Also, just because they weren't filtering for cryptosporidium, doesn't mean they weren't testing for it. If it was found, the filtering would have been resumed (or the full boil notice re-instated).

Here's the notice:

http://www.clarecoco.ie/news/Newsarchive/Water_Restrictions_Lifted.html

Edit: Not that I'm defending the shambolic state of the water supply over the last few years.

And as for water changes, they'll probably come in anyway, but we won't see a better service for them.

Teadrinker

phutyle wrote: »

But the July 08 notice says that the filtration bypass was done in consultation with the EPA (and the HSE), and it explicitly notes that it increases the risk of cryptosporidium, and so the partial boil notice was still in place. So it's not like they were actually hiding anything. Also, just because they weren't filtering for cryptosporidium, doesn't mean they weren't testing for it. If it was found, the filtering would have been resumed (or the full boil notice re-instated).

Here's the notice:

http://www.clarecoco.ie/news/Newsarchive/Water_Restrictions_Lifted.html

Edit: Not that I'm defending the shambolic state of the water supply over the last few years.

And as for water changes, they'll probably come in anyway, but we won't see a better service for them.

The newspapers reported that the Council pleaded guilty to being in breach of an EPA directive in respect of bypassing the filtration system for the stated period. So how do you square that with the notice from 1 July 08 which still remains on the site? Either the guilty plea is in error or the notice is in error.

Gregor Samsa

Teadrinker wrote: »

The newspapers reported that the Council pleaded guilty to being in breach of an EPA directive in respect of bypassing the filtration system for the stated period. So how do you square that with the notice from 1 July 08 which still remains on the site? Either the guilty plea is in error or the notice is in error.

The notice says they consulted the EPA, it doesn't say they agreed with what the Council were doing.

My point is that their actions, and the reasons for them, have been public knowlege since July 08, so it's not like they've been hiding anything. They admit to breaking the directive, but I assume they, and the HSE felt justified in doing so based on their other public health concerns about the poor supply levels.

Teadrinker

phutyle wrote: »

The notice says they consulted the EPA, it doesn't say they agreed with what the Council were doing.

My point is that their actions, and the reasons for them, have been public knowlege since July 08, so it's not like they've been hiding anything. They admit to breaking the directive, but I assume they, and the HSE felt justified in doing so based on their other public health concerns about the poor supply levels.

It says a lot more than 'they consulted with the EPA'. It quotes the Town Engineer as stating that the EPA, the Council itself and the HSE were 'satisfied' that any risk arising from the bypassing of the filtration from a public health point of view could be kept to a minimum by full implementation of the partial boil notice to vulnerable groups which remained in place. Well it turns out the EPA was not 'satisfied' and that the Council action was a breach of its directives, hence the court case and the guilty plea. Do you see no reason at all for the Council to have longsince removed this notice outlining a decision that may cause them to be fined 500,000 Euro? Is the EPA action some sort of joke?

Jim Martin

This problem is probably going to get worse because, on the one hand, the EU have given out grants to farmers to build slatted sheds, they therefore have even more slurry to get rid of! On the other hand, they will be fining Ireland for polluting water. The system quite literally stinks!

An Taisce have been working on a scheme (Kulyana) to get local communities involved in installing digesters to dispose of surplus slurry (& any other organic waste) - thus killing three birds with one stone - 1) getting rid of surplus organic waste 2) creating sustainable energy (methane gas) from the waste which can be used to generate electricity 3) the resultant waste left over can be used as dry fertiliser with no smell.

Dr Kamikazi

Jim Martin wrote: »

An Taisce have been working on a scheme (Kulyana) to get local communities involved in installing digesters to dispose of surplus slurry (& any other organic waste) - thus killing three birds with one stone - 1) getting rid of surplus organic waste 2) creating sustainable energy (methane gas) from the waste which can be used to generate electricity 3) the resultant waste left over can be used as dry fertiliser with no smell.

Great to know someone is doing something.
Sadly, this solution is intelligent, practical, easily implemented and (god help us!) might even be profitable.
Therefore it will never get off the ground.