A BOIL WATER NOTICE that has been impacting over 600,000 people has been lifted.

A meeting took place this afternoon to make a decision on whether to remove the restrictions which were in place for parts of Dublin, Kildare, and Meath for the past week.

The notice affected people who are supplied by the Leixlip Water Treatment Plant.

Irish Water said following consultation and in agreement with the HSE, Irish Water and Fingal County Council, the notice is lifted for customers supplied by Leixlip Water Treatment Plant with immediate effect.

It said the EPA’s audit of the old Leixlip Plant on Friday and the satisfactory results of a number of water samples were factors in the decision.

The EPA is expected to publish the findings of its audit next week. Irish Water said the agency was able to see how the old plant had been optimised with additional staffing and monitoring and daily water testing. 

Niall Gleeson, managing director of Irish Water, said:

“Irish Water acknowledge and understand the impact of this boil water notice on the 600,000 people affected and we sincerely regret the inconvenience.

We endeavoured to keep the public up to date at every stage and we are grateful to the media, elected representatives and members of the public who shared the information on social media and who supported family, friends and neighbours.”

“We are grateful to our partners in Fingal County Council who worked with us to provide all of the necessary information to the HSE and EPA to facilitate the lifting of this boil water notice.”

Gleeson said the plant at Leixlip remains vulnerable and Irish Water will be working with the council to minimise the risk of another boil water notice. 

He said Irish Water has maximised the processes to build resilience while also diverting water from Ballymore Eustace, the country’s biggest water treatment plant, to decrease pressure on the old plant at Leixlip.

“Working with Fingal County Council we are increasing the monitoring and staffing at the plant while also increasing the water testing. The ultimate solution is to replace the filters at the old plant and this process is being accelerated as quickly and safely as possible while still maintaining supply to the greater Dublin area,” he explained.

“If we could, we would shut down the old plant, take it off line and do all the refurbishment at once. This is not possible because 20% of Dublin’s water supply comes from the Old Plant and we do not have the spare capacity to allow this to happen.”