Again?

Via RTÉ:

The problem has resulted from very heavy rainfall which has washed large amounts of organic matter into reservoirs, increasing the turbidity – or ‘cloudiness’ – of the source water above acceptable levels.

The older of two water treatment plants at the Leixlip facility has been unable to react fast enough to deal with the rise in turbidity.

However, that older plant produces 20% of the drinking water for the entire greater Dublin area and there is insufficient capacity elsewhere to replace it.

Irish Water said the areas impacted were the same in a previous boil water notice issued last month.

It includes parts of Fingal, areas in Dublin City Council, parts of South Dublin County Council, parts of Kildare and Dunboyne in Meath.

Hmm,

Boil water notice reissued for 600,000 people (RTÉ)

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24 thoughts on “On The Boil

  1. Shayna O'Neill

    “Turbidity”, you say? Webster’s Dictionary defines it as, ‘The amount of time Ryan Tubridy spends on air, broadcasting, it may effect drinking water’. (Not really, sorry Ryan – I couldn’t resist.).

    1. some old queen

      The council engineers heading for retirement- after meeting the Irish Water two grand a day consultants- are collectively holding their hands up and saying ‘nothing to with me’- I speculate

    1. Slightly Bemused

      Very much so, but also just plain old bugs and bacteria that would not normally gather in a reservoir in such amounts, and mostly washed down from the surface (streets, fields, forests) etc

        1. Slightly Bemused

          Good point, I forgot to include that. Indeed, at times like this it is items like that, and silt washed down from the river beds, that will constitute the majority of the turbidity in the source water.

    2. ____

      Nah, the vast majority of is soil washed into the river by heavy rain.
      Look at a river in flood, it’s dark brown with soil. That amount of soil is a nightmare for treatment systems.

      There’ll be a bit of poop in there too of course, more than normal but still very little.

  2. Paulus

    You got there ahead of me; though I thought the definition of turbidity was:
    A measure of personal annoyance and frustration brought on by exposure to this broadcaster – occurring most regularly on a Friday evening.

    1. Slightly Bemused

      Well then we definitely have a problem, as we have a double dose this week, with tonight’s tribute show.

    2. shayna

      I think we may be on the same page, Paulus. Do you remember his sign on, “Good Morning Termonfeckin” – I still cringe.

  3. Slightly Bemused

    As someone affected by this, I may just apply the old navy solution and lace my water with rum and have grog instead. Or maybe leave out the water and just have the rum :)

    1. Shayna O'Neill

      There was a similar thing in West Belfast @20 years ago – boil water, etc – I don’t think Ryan Tubridy was involved, to be fair.

    1. Shayna O'Neill

      In the North – there is no charge for water. It’s a legacy of Gerry Adams. He may, or may not have done other things, but he fought against water charges.

      1. Rob_G

        Easy to argue against water charges when you know that the other 59 million UK taxpayers will end up footing the bill on your behalf.

        1. Shayna O'Neill

          The “Rates” in The North is inclusive of the supply of water. There is no charge separately. Sorry to the 59 million UK taxpayers who actually don’t pay for my water.

          1. Shayna O'Neill

            @Cian – No! No meters, no pay by the pint etc. Turn on the taps man, here in the North. Also, I haven’t seen Tubridy in Belfast of late.

  4. Listrade

    Good job we hardly ever get rain in this country, you can understand why one day of rain caught them by surprise.

  5. Slightly Bemused

    Actually, just thought of something as a practical advice on this.

    I have been in many countries where boiling water was always a requirement and so became a regular activity. Also needed to filter the water (I had a large capacity ceramic filter. We had to use that water for all cooking, including for example boiling potatoes, which is not the issue in this case.

    If you have a large saucepan with a lid, fill it and put it on for the boil, and boil for at least 5 minutes once it starts roiling. Then take off the heat. Do this late at night, and leave overnight still covered, and it will be cool enough to use as drinking / tooth-washing / veggie washing water the following day, without impacting your ability to use the hob.

    This should give a few days supply if used for that only (depends on size of saucepan and family, of course). A standard kettle will do for cups of tea or coffee, or if you want to boil the water before cooking the spuds or pasta or other cooking needs, and if you are on only electric like me, it is also likely more efficient at getting water to temperature :-)

    If you have something to transfer it to, like clean flasks, water jugs, etc, some can be put in the fridge for nice cold water for drinking. Only transfer once cold – I once got a nasty scald by being impatient. We had one container also for the bathroom for tooth brushing, but that is probably overkill for just a few days.

    I hope this is useful and helpful to some people.

    1. shayna

      Where do you live? I have a a cousin who came back from Zambia (Aid Worker) who described the same scenario,

      1. Slightly Bemused

        Hi. Am back home in Kildare now, but worked extensively throughout Africa, and still occasionally do. Zambians and residents there would do this regularly. It was a Kenyan who first explained it to me, but I imagine it is the same pretty much throught Africa.

        In the place we were using the embers of the fire after cooking to boil the water so as not to waste the heat. At the time, everything was cooked over a ziko oven – not unlike a small barbecue – so you got to know how to utilise as much of the heat generated as possible. I introduced them to foil wrapped baked potatoes, like a good Irishman should :-D

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