THE IRISH Coast Guard has flown 900 bottles of water to the Aran island of Inis Oírr, where drinking supplies are severely contaminated.
Weather conditions over the past two days precluded a ferry delivery of water ordered from Rossaveal by Galway County Council.
The island had run dry when the coast guard’s Shannon-based rescue helicopter was tasked to transport the cargo from Galway airport yesterday.
The council has promised to find an “alternative source of drinking water as soon as possible” .
Last Friday evening the island’s water was designated as unsafe to drink, even when boiled, due to chloride levels traced to seawater.
The island co-op was not directly contacted when a notice was issued on the council’s website last Friday, and a public health nurse was not informed directly.
The island’s regular population had swelled over the weekend to about 500 due to a wedding and tourists.
The most southerly of the three Aran islands faces regular summer droughts due to relatively low rainfall and the difficulty of drilling wells that are not contaminated by seawater.
Conservation measures were brought in this summer due to an exceptionally dry period, and water is currently rationed to between 11am and 6pm.
The co-op, which has called for a long-term solution to the problem, has set up rainwater harvesting courses for residents this autumn.
A 1996 report identified infrastructural difficulties on the island, with a main reservoir at risk of seawater contamination when at a particularly low level. A subvention of €1 million was given by the State to provide an extra holding tank.
The problem was so critical in 2005 that a fishing vessel was commissioned to make supplementary water deliveries to the island from Rossaveal on the mainland.