Athenry's water gets 'all clear'

The public water supply in the east Galway town of Athenry has been given the "all clear", following a third consecutive test…

The public water supply in the east Galway town of Athenry has been given the "all clear", following a third consecutive test showing that the supply was free from contamination, writes Lorna Siggins.

Mr Tom Kavanagh, Galway County Council's director of water services, told The Irish Times yesterday that the alert over contamination had been lifted after a third test, which was taken on Wednesday. Similar results were also recorded on Monday and Tuesday of this week.

E.coli, which could derive from a human or animal source, had been identified in a test by the local authority last week, following a complaint from a member of the public. An alert was issued on Monday, and water was delivered by tanker to the town. Mr Kavanagh said farmers were not being blamed for the pollution. The recent heavy rainfall had caused a major run-off from "all surfaces", he stressed.