Inis Oírr promised new water source 'as quickly as possible'

ARAN ISLAND residents of Inis Oírr have been promised an “alternative source of drinking water as soon as possible” by Galway County Council.

The island’s water is no longer safe to drink, even when boiled, due to chloride levels, the local authority says.

Increased salinity levels, traced to sea water, may be the main reason for the contamination – but the manner in which islanders were informed of this latest alert has caused anger.

The island co-op was not directly contacted when a notice was issued on the council’s website last Friday evening, the co-op’s manager Paddy Crowe has said.

Even the public health nurse was not told directly, Mr Crowe said, and some residents heard “by chance” on Raidío na Gaeltachta.

The island’s regular population had swelled over the weekend to about 500 due to a wedding and tourist visitors.

Mr Crowe said the island was now totally dependent on ferry deliveries of bottled water from Galway.

The council was unavailable for direct comment yesterday but issued a statement on its website in which it reiterated the alert details in both Irish and English.

It said “arrangements are being made to provide an alternative source of drinking water as soon as possible”.

“This restriction has been caused by lack of rainfall and the increasing level of salinity in the source of the supply,” it said, adding that “any inconvenience caused is regretted”.

The most southerly of the three Aran islands faces regular summer droughts due to relative 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 is organising rainwater harvesting courses for residents this autumn.