IRISH WATER HAS been criticised by an oversight body over its failure to categorise contacts from dissatisfied customers affected by poor water quality as complaints.

The Commission for Regulation of Utilities carried out investigations into how the State water company handled contacts from members of the public about drinking water supplies at Cavanhill, Dundalk, Co Louth and Gorey, Co Wexford last year.

The CRU said its findings highlighted an inconsistent and unclear approach to contact handling by Irish Water which made it difficult for customers’ complaints to be registered.

The Cavanhill scheme provides drinking water to over 45,600 people while the Gorey Regional Creagh scheme serves a population of just over 7,200.

The CRU said both incidents had a significant negative impact on the public, particularly in relation to the Gorey scheme where a total of 46 people fell ill because of inadequately disinfected water entering the public water supply.

In one incident, Irish Water failed to log a call from a woman who reported that her child had been ill for the previous six days and that her tap water had “a green tinge” as a complaint despite the fact that she had asked for something to be done as soon as possible and to get a response on what would be done.

The CRU said the woman only received a response three days later after she contacted Irish Water via social media.

In another incident, a customer contacted Irish Water three times before a complaint was logged after she said her neighbour’s children had tested positive for E-coli and thought they had got in from the water, while her own children were also feeling unwell.

The CRU said it was only when the woman called a fourth time – one month after her initial call – that Irish Water raised a complaint for the customer.

Contacts received by councillors 

The regulator also criticised Irish Water for not recording contacts received by councillors, ministers or senators on behalf of customers as complaints as its code of practice stipulated it must accept complaints from a recognised third party.

In relation to the Cavanhill scheme, the regulator said Irish Water had failed to follow up with some customers who had contacted the utility about discoloured water.

The CRU found in a sample of 16 contacts about the Cavanhill supply that eight calls should have been logged as complaints, while Irish Water maintained only one should have been treated as a complaint.

The regulator said it had investigated both supplies as audits by the Environmental Protection Agency had raised issues in relation to customer communications and complaint handling.

The CRU observed that the EPA had noted a large number of complaints about discoloured drinking water during an audit of the Cavanhill scheme in June 2021.

It said levels of manganese above the recommended safety limit in the Cavanhill supply which had occurred in 2020 had not been reported to the EPA or communicated to the public.

While Irish Water became aware of the issue on 8 June 2021 and issued a press release on that date directing the public to its website, the CRU said information about the incident was only uploaded nine days later.

It said Irish Water and Wexford County Council had failed to respond in a timely manner to complaints about discolouration and illness after inadequately disinfected water entered the Gorey Regional Creagh supply on 19 to 24 August and 28 to 30 August last year.

The regulator said its investigation into the incident showed Irish Water did not accurately categorise several contacts as complaints, despite customers expressing dissatisfaction and expecting a response or resolution.

The CRU said the categorisation of complaints is important as it is used as a measure of Irish Water’s customer service.

“Customers who have logged complaints receive more follow-up correspondence from Irish Water compared to when a complaint is not logged,” the CRU said.

The regulator said Irish Water had not provided clear and updated information for customers on its website in relation to the Gorey scheme between September 2 and September 17, 2021.

The CRU said a similar finding about the categorisation of customer contacts had previously emerged in relation to a problem at a treatment plant in Bailieborough, Co Cavan in 2019 as well as in a separate general compliance audit carried out in early 2022.

As a consequence, the regulator said it had not been reassured that remedial actions put in place to date by Irish Water had fully addressed the issue.

Latest investigations

During the latest investigations, Irish Water confirmed that it had issued new guidelines to its contact centre staff so that all reports of personal or household illness suspected to be from drinking water in future will be logged as “red” complaints.

While the CRU welcomed the changes, it said further improvements were still required in how it treated contacts from members of the public.

It has ordered Irish Water to conduct a review of its contact handling and categorisation processes against other water utilities to identify best practice and potential improvements.

The CRU expressed satisfaction that Irish Water now places a note at the top of news items to inform customers that it is the most up-to-date notification about their supply in relation to boil water notices, drinking water restrictions and interruptions.

While the CRU said the provision of text messages by Irish Water to inform customers on the second working day after a contact that the issue is being examined was an improvement, it was still not fully satisfied at Irish Water’s admission that it is unable to consistently facilitate update or close-out calls to customers.