Water quality, Westbury Corbally etc

landmarkjohn

We have noticed a severe deterioration of our drinking water in the past couple of weeks. Taste is horrible and some family member complaining of upset stomach.
I have always praised the quality of our water in the past, has anyone else noticed?

osarusan

Living near Westbury, haven't noticed any difference in quality, but the water pressure has been very low for months and months.

OfTheMarsWongs

They've been working on the water main on the Corbally Road for the past few weeks. Probably related? Water pressure much improved since they finished the overnight work (last week I think).

Carokers

Living in Corbally Road and cannot drink the water any more, not even boiled. Since the works we have both had sore throats, the water tastes of chlorine and there is a weird smell coming off the water when you run the tap, almost a gassy type of smell. There is definitely something not right with the water now.

highlydebased

Must be a citywide problem. I had a terribly upset stomach drinking city water last week. It was pretty bad at home as well, we had to boil bottled water for the kettle for a few days. You could smell the chlorine off the water at the other side of the room it was that strong

stefanovich

Weren't they talking about putting some new chemical in the water to treat the lead pipes? Could it be this?

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/water/irish-water-crisis/irish-water-to-cut-lead-in-supply-by-adding-chemical-31509331.html

Wise Old Elf

I read this thread a few days ago, and a few of us in my family have had some mild stomach upsets recently (SCRd environs).

You can get water supply statistics off the Council website (http://waterquality.limerick.ie/). You have to click the Limerick City public water supply, but of note, I see only 66% compliance for Cryptosporidium, and lower levels of compliance on certain weedkillers/pesticides. I'm no scientist, but it looks a little concerning.

I'm going to raise a thread in Talk To Irish Water and link them here, see if there is anything to be concerned about.

landmarkjohn

I reported to Irish Water last week and got a ticket logged. Lady from Clare County Council was out today to take a sample.

She told me that chlorine had been increased to meet requirements, indicated that she could smell the chlorine from the water. She will send the results of tests to Irish Water who may give me a call.

IMO the water has improved but I fear we may have been converted to bottle water now, especially after additional reports of stomach upset above.

landmarkjohn

landmarkjohn wrote: »

I reported to Irish Water last week and got a ticket logged. Lady from Clare County Council was out today to take a sample.

She told me that chlorine had been increased to meet requirements, indicated that she could smell the chlorine from the water. She will send the results of tests to Irish Water who may give me a call.

Irish water called back. All test parameters within limits. They also confirmed chlorine levels had been increased.

Wise Old Elf

The reps on boards are checking out if the results on the Council website have any significance or not. They haven't asked for a sample of my water at the moment. The upset stomachs may be nothing to do with the water supply to be fair, but no harm in raising the question.

landmarkjohn

Wise Old Elf wrote: »

The reps on boards are checking out if the results on the Council website have any significance or not. They haven't asked for a sample of my water at the moment. The upset stomachs may be nothing to do with the water supply to be fair, but no harm in raising the question.

Lady from the council who came to take sample said that the chlorine levels had been increased as the level was not high enough "at the end of the line" and as a result people "at the beginning of the line" may notice the higher level. She said the chlorine is used to kill the bugs.

We had 2 young healthy adults as well older folk complaining of the dodgy tummy. That was 2 weekends ago.

Wise Old Elf

We have followed up on this matter for you and can confirm that this supply has had no Pesticide exceedances in either 2015 or to date in 2016.

There was one exceedance for MCPA detected from a sample taken in Sep 2014. The 66% compliance rate identified by the customer below for Cryptosporidium on the Limerick City and County website appears to be primarily due to exceedances detected before the establishment of Irish Water. We can also confirm that there has been no Cryptosporidium exceedances on this supply from Jan 2014 to date.

We hope this helps.

Above from the Talk to Irish Water thread I created, so it seems no issue with the supply in Limerick City.
You can see how the stats would be a cause of concern on first reading.

Carokers

Is anyone else still suffering from chlorine overdose in the drinking water? Or is it just our house? We're still on bottled water, even the cat!! Does anyone know how long this will go on for?

Many thanks

landmarkjohn

Carokers wrote: »

Is anyone else still suffering from chlorine overdose in the drinking water? Or is it just our house? We're still on bottled water, even the cat!! Does anyone know how long this will go on for?

Many thanks

We are back using tap water for hot drinks but it is not a "nice" as it used to be for drinking a glass of water. I think this is what we have to get used to :mad:

Carokers

Many thanks for that, at least we know we are not on our own with this.

VikingG

We are in Annacotty and on occasion notice a gassy smell from the water, from the thread it looks like this may be Chlorine.
What does the previous poster mean by an overdose of Chlorine?

Carokers

I just meant it makes the water taste foul. It's apparently not harmful, but tastes disgusting and even our cat won't drink it. I am not sure whether it was chlorine or something else they did to the water that was giving us sore throats so I am not taking the risk.

VikingG

Thanks ... it is more the smell that we have noticed than the taste but presumably they are linked depending on which sense you are more perceptive with.

I have done some research and to the most part it is reassuring, ignoring the odd site whose prime aim is to sell you their filters.

While checking waterquality.limerick.ie I can see multiple tests but it is difficult to know should I be looking at Chloride, Chloroform, Free Chlorine or Total Chlorine... the latter not having a permissible concentration listed. However none of the tests indicate any breach of limits.

Also something of note on the use of Chlorine from https://www.epa.ie/pubs/advice/water/quality/Water_Quality.pdf

Health/Sanitary Significance: No direct significance at the relatively tiny levels used in water
treatment processes.
Background Information: Water supplies are disinfected to destroy or deactivate
microorganisms which can produce diseases such as cholera, typhoid and so on, and the process is
the most important in water treatment.

Some details skipped

Two further points should be noted about the use of chlorine. First, if a water is polluted by
phenols or by trace organic compounds released from decaying algal growths, chlorination can give
rise to very severe taste and odour problems, rendering the water unfit to drink. Second, it should
also be noted about chlorination that where a water contains even small amounts of organic
(humic) colouring matter, the reaction between it and the added chlorine will give rise to
undesirable chlorinated by-products [e.g. trihalomethanes; q.v.] which are also subject to
restriction.
Comments: Although chlorine is a poisonous gas, its toxicity to humans is not a consideration in
drinking water supplies as a water would be unacceptable on organoleptic grounds long before the
onset of directly toxic effects. There are, however, strict limits on its concentration in fishery
waters as its toxicity to aquatic life forms is much more marked.

Carokers

That sounds in line with what I have read before elsewhere. The stronger the chlorine presence noticed in water, the more bacteria, etc. is in the water. Presumably the gassy smell is caused by the contact between chlorine and the organic/bacterial matter.

I think we'll stick to the bottled water for now, but at least the chlorine is by far the best option compared to the threat of cholera, typhoid or other life-threatening diseases.

Maybe I am more sensitive to it, I really didn't like even as a child at the swimming pool.

Many thanks for all your help.