'Do Not Drink Water' notice lifted in Ballyhaise

The ‘Do Not Drink Water’ restriction in Ballyhaise, issued last week, has been lifted. The notice, put in place last Thursday after high levels of nitrites were detected, saw local people using bottled water for cooking and drinking and told not to boil water.
Residents queried why Ballyhaise was issued the “no drink” notice but Annagh Group Water Scheme, who supply the water for the village, were not under notice.
The restrictions caused confusion for some locals as shopkeeper Eamon Donohoe explained: “Irish Water is buying water from Annagh Group Water scheme. The Annagh water scheme covers a wide area. There’s no problem outside the Ballyhaise area. There is one point in the Ballyhaise area and it is metered.”
Mr Donohoe says his home supply is fine, but his business was under notice: “I have a house out the road and I’m getting the very same water out there as I am here, but there is no notice on it. There’s no problem with the Annagh Scheme. Irish Water have to maintain the water infrastructure. They installed new lines in Ballyhaise a little over a year ago. I can’t understand why Ballyhaise is giving trouble when Annagh is not.”
He believes Irish Water is not looking after the infrastructure. “That is the problem. I haven’t seen anyone looking after the town supply, scouring out lines, for over a year until this morning [Friday, July 27]. Why can you go up the road a quarter of a mile and use the Butlersbridge water supply, but you can’t use the water here in town?” asked Mr Donohoe.
The notice issued on the drinking water restriction explains that it was put in place to protect public health following an excess of nitrite detected in the water supply.
Jean Rosney of National Federation of Group Water Schemes confirmed the notice issued by the HSE was only issued for the village of  Ballyhaise and the Annagh Group Water was not found to be in breach or nitrate levels by the EPA.
Irish Water said the drinking water restriction was put in place to protect public health following water sampling results, which showed excess nitrite in the supply. Monitoring and testing of the scheme since the notice was put in place has shown that the water supply is now fully compliant.
The utility company said: “As a final precautionary measure customers on the Ballyhaise Public Water Supply whose water systems have not been in use since July 26, 2018 should ensure that they flush out their systems by running their hot and cold taps for a period of at least 30 minutes before resuming normal use of the water supply.”