Coping with the water problem is expensive and time-consuming for many people, reports Lorna Sigginsin Galway
Carbon footprints have been running amok in Galway city and county since the public health alert over drinking water was issued just over a fortnight ago. If the kettle is not constantly on the boil, the recycling bin is filling fast with discarded plastic bottles.
Confirmation last week that the "hominis" strain of the cryptosporidiosis parasite had been found in the public water system has given a whole new dimension to the situation, which has been causing most hardship to the elderly, to sick people and their carers and to parents of the very young.
The prospect of secondary or person-to-person infection now looms large - and in spite of Health Service Executive (HSE) West guidelines, no one is completely immune.
Such is the parasite's resistance to most treatments and its tenacity that almost everyone knows someone who has, or has had, the gastrointestinal illness over the past couple of months. As Dr Diarmuid O'Donovan of HSE West's department of public health has acknowledged, the official number of notified cases is a fraction of the real number, as many fit people will struggle through over one to two weeks without going to a doctor.
Independent councillor Catherine Connolly lost a stone in weight in four days when she contracted it in late January. A normally fit person, she says she dreads to think how more vulnerable people may have suffered.
Lorraine Mellett, manager of Teddy House creche on the Rahoon road, takes children from 12 months up, and many of her 20 young charges wear nappies or trainers. Two of her young children have been out sick with the illness, and one spent a night in hospital due to dehydration. Creches like Teddy House tend to have rigid hygiene rules, such as use of gloves when changing nappies, but staff are also accompanying older children to the toilet to make sure that they wash and dry their hands properly.
"The kettle is switched on non-stop, we are using boiled water for everything from cleaning to washing, and we are filling up saucepans with cooled boiled water," Ms Mellett told The Irish Times. She has been buying in an extra 20 litres of bottled water every few days. "It is an additional cost, and very time consuming, but it is something we just have to do."
The HSE West notification has been issued to all hotels, guesthouses, restaurants and pubs, and more than 1,000 premises were visited by environmental health officers to give advice on use of coffee machines, washing uncooked food in boiled water and other issues on the first weekend - which coincided with St Patrick's Day.
Creches and nursing homes have received advice in the post, and environmental health officers have held talks with swimming pool operators - given that many filtration systems cannot catch cryptosporidium.
Several restaurateurs have said they find it easier to wash food in bottled water, due to the time factor involved in the alternative option. The additional cost has been partially offset by a marked increase in sales of bottled water during meals, they say, but not all establishments and organisations are so lucky. Justin McDermott, co-ordinator with the agency Cope, which delivers meals on wheels, says that they are now distributing bottled water to their 120 clients, but have been given a special discount by Galway Irish Spring Water.
"There is no doubt that the situation is causing a lot of hardship and worry," Mr McDermott told The Irish Times. "If you are elderly and living on your own, you might just not remember. We are doing everything we can to make sure people are aware, to ensure that they don't get sick and that they can remain in their own homes."
In schools, water fountains have been switched off - though some commercial water filter systems have now been cleared as safe to drink by the HSE West. In hospitals and nursing homes, where hygiene among medical staff is already an issue in relation to MRSA infections, staff have been washing hands in bottled or cooled boiled water.
During the row over the crisis, several councillors called for financial help for the more vulnerable, while businesses said they would be seeking a rebate on water charges. Ironically, some of the loudest voices in both business and politics during the past fortnight have supported development at all cost - in spite of many warnings about the toll on the Corrib catchment area.