A three-week ban on 30,000 residents drinking from the public water supply in Ennis, Co Clare, is set to be lifted today by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and Ennis Town Council.
However, a spokesman for the HSE admitted yesterday the water from the public supply will not be totally safe to drink until a new treatment plant is built. This is not expected to be in place for another two years.
As a result, the joint statement to be issued today by the HSE and the council lifting the ban will advise that children under five years of age, people in care and those vulnerable to infection seek alternative sources of water to the public supply.
A spokesman for the HSE said: "I don't think we will reach a point where we can say that the water is totally safe until the new treatment plant is provided."
The two agencies imposed the ban on drinking from the public water supply without boiling first on September 14th after traces of e.coli were found.
It was the second time in three months that the public in the greater Ennis area had been advised not to drink from the water supply.
Last June the two agencies issued a "boil notice" - which lasted for two weeks - after five preschool children were diagnosed with Cryptosporidiosis, a diarrhoeal disease with symptoms including abdominal cramps, fatigue, nausea, vomiting and low-grade fever.
Mayor of Ennis Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) told a council meeting yesterday that families had fallen sick in the past few weeks as a result of drinking from the public water supply.
Cllr Taiwoo Matthew (Ind) said: "I know two little kids that were brought to hospital with water-borne infections, but no one asked at the hospital, and it was not recorded.
"I am proud to come from Ireland's tidiest town, but people say to me 'You come from the town with the dirtiest water in Ireland'. To have e.coli in the water supply is very serious. It has caused fatalities recently in England."
Cllr Neylon yesterday asked for tankers to be available to provide a safe water supply for the population.
Town engineer Tom Tiernan told the meeting that the Department of the Environment had approved tender documents for the new plant. It is expected it will become operational in July 2007.
Mr Tiernan said the "boil notice" was still in place as a precautionary measure.
The existing plant has no filtration system, making the supply vulnerable, and Cllr Tom Glynn urged that the council put in place temporary filtration until the new plant is operational.
He said: "We have to be able to do something. The council must be proactive on this."
Mr Tiernan said that because the plant dealt with three million gallons of water daily, it was difficult to identify a temporary solution, but the council would continue its search to identify options.
A spokesman for the HSE said it had not been able to establish any direct link between people falling ill and drinking from the public water supply.
