RESIDENTS OF a street in Mallow, north Cork, who were told last Friday to stop using their tap water for drinking after high levels of lead were found in supplies have been reassured that all piping to the street will be replaced in the coming days to solve the problem.
Residents in Beecher Street were asked to stop drinking their water on Friday after it was tested in a routine county council operation.
The permitted amount of lead per litre is 25 micograms. However, the water at one house in Beecher Street was found to have 85 micograms per litre - more than three times the permitted level.
Mayor of Mallow Cllr James Kennedy said that Cork County Council has made a commitment to solve the problem as soon as possible.
"Cork County Council has made the decision to replace the old 400m of pipes on both side of the street. Beecher Street is one of the oldest streets in Mallow," he said.
"Of the 10 houses sampled, three houses had slightly elevated levels of lead. As a precautionary measure, the county council introduced the ban on drinking water. A contractor has been sourced to replace the pipes and work will begin as soon as possible."
Mr Kennedy said council workers installed temporary taps on either side of Beecher Street over the weekend to allow the 55 homes and businesses impacted by the ban have access to water.
The water in the taps in Beecher Street is safe for bathing, showering, washing dishes and clothes, but the drinking ban was introduced as a precautionary measure.
Follow-up tests are planned in other parts of the town which were built before 1970, while the Health Service Executive is also due to sample the water supplies of every house on Beecher Street today.
Meanwhile, free bottled water has been delivered to elderly people affected by Galway's latest water contamination crisis. This follows a five-hour meeting on Friday between councillors and officials to discuss the lead contamination in part of Galway's water supply.
Bottled water will also be subsidised for other residents in Galway, while efforts are being made to find a long-term solution to the problem.
On Tuesday, tests in Galway confirmed a high level of lead in water supplies to more than half the houses surveyed in the city.
The Environmental Protection Agency says that lead contamination of drinking water in parts of Galway is "complex" and cannot be attributed solely to the chemical composition of water from a county reservoir.