Major leak cuts water supply to Galway city and part of county

JUST OVER a year after the outbreak of its drinking water crisis, Galway city and part of the county has been hit with a "major leak" in the supply network.

Water tankers were being organised last night by Galway City Council to cope with cuts in supply that extend across the west side of the city as far as Barna and Moycullen in the county.

Residents were being asked to boil all water taken from tankers, while the local authority said that there was "no issue" with the quality of water generally. Last year, over 2,000 people became ill and some 90,000 residents had to boil their water for five months when the supply was contaminated with the cryptosporidium parasite.

The council said it had not been able to identify the location of the leak, which it described as "major", but it had been isolated to a two kilometre section in the rising mains between Terryland treatment plant and the Clifton Hill reservoir. This reservoir serves most of the city. A council spokeswoman said the priority was to find the leak and to ensure continued supply in the interim to University College Hospital, Galway, and to the city centre area. The Health Service Executive (HSE) West will be contacting all food premises, crèches and nursing homes in the affected areas, she said.

The council apologised for the "inconvenience" and said that it hoped to restore supply within 48 hours of finding the problem. However, this could take a few days.