The Carlow boil water notice affecting 35 thousand people could have been caused by a section of bog being washed into the River Slaney during heavy rain.
The increased muddiness in the river caused the treatment plants in Tullow and Rathvilly to shut down leading to the warning that water may not be safe to drink.
The boil water notice was extended to Carlow Town last Friday and now looks likely to be in place until Wednesday.
Cathaoirleach of Carlow County Council Fintan Phelan has updated KCLR on a probable cause for the pollution:
“Most likely at this stage, what it’s looking like happened is a piece of ground, perhaps a piece of bog may have fallen into the river after the heavy rainfall”
Meanwhile Irish Water are carrying out more tests on the water quality today but Regional Operations Manager Jim Fitzgerald says the results so far have shown an improvement.
“To lift a boil water notice we agree a criteria with the HSE and that’s a number of clear tests. So we’re taking those tests at the moment and when we have our suite of tests done we will then speak to the HSE. If we meet that criteria then we expect that the HSE will lift the boil water notice”.
