FURTHER RESEARCH needs to be carried out on water filters before they can be installed in the homes of Galway residents whose water supply is contaminated with lead, Galway City Council has announced.
At a meeting on Monday night, council officials said they could not provide the filters until they had consulted the Environmental Protection Agency and would report back to the council on November 24th.
Galway city councillors voted unanimously in favour of a motion to install filters in the four residential areas of the city affected by lead contamination.
For the past six weeks, residents of Old Mervue have been forced to buy bottled water or draw supplies from a water tank in their housing estate.
A health warning was put in place after tests revealed high lead levels in their water supply.
Ciarán Hayes, director of services at the council's department of transport and infrastructure, said: "It is not just a simple matter of installing a filter and then away you go. Before any filter goes in, we need to fully research the issue."
According to Mr Hayes, some filter systems could extract essential minerals from the water. He said the only real solution was the removal of pipes, which would take two years.
Mervue residents, 100 of whom staged a protest before the council meeting on Monday, said they were disappointed with the outcome."The councillors were all for it, but the city manager has the last word. We are going to fight this," said Anne Egan of Mervue Senior Citizens' Committee.
Cllr Terry O'Flaherty, who proposed the motion, was also disappointed with the outcome.
She had proposed a similar motion five weeks ago. "How much time do they need? They had five weeks to engage with consultants," she said.