IRISH WATER HAS said that the boil water notice for 600,000 people in the greater Dublin area remains in place but that the affected water is “slowly pushing its way through the pipes”.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Irish Water spokesperson Yvonne Harris said that the hope is to lift the notice for the entire affected area as one and not section by section. 

The decision to lift the notice would be jointly taken by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the HSE and Fingal County Council.

The three parties are set to meet this afternoon and Harris said she would hope to have “some positive news” from that meeting but that she cannot preempt any decision. 

The boil water notice was issued on Tuesday after the disinfection process, which makes water safe to drink, may have been compromised at the Leixlip Water Treatment Plant.

Affected Areas Irish Water Irish Water

The EPA has since got the results of a sample taken this week from the Leixlip plant and they came back satisfactory, something Harris describes as “very positive”.

“The next stage now is that the EPA will consider the findings and they will produce a report at a later date. But this afternoon the EPA, HSE and Fingal will meet together to discuss the satisfactory sample we got from the plant,” she said.

The untreated water that’s in the pipes is slowly pushing its way out beyond the area. Our technicians will have mapped out how long it takes the water to flow through the pipes. And so, as each day goes, the water is getting further out. Another action that we plan today is for Fingal County Council to go to the extremities of the Leixlip pipeline and flush any water that will still be stagnant.

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People affected by the notice are urged to ensure that they heed the advice and boil their water for drinking purposes, brushing their teeth, preparing food and infants’ bottles.

People living and working across a huge area in parts of Dublin, Meath and Kildare are affected.

Harris said that the desire is to lift the boil water notice across the entire area but that there may be some discussions this afternoon after whether some specific areas may see it lifted first. 

“We are all very, very keen to lift the notice. Again we would like to apologise for customers that this notion was ever issued in the first instance,” she added.