Will the contaminated water alert stop people heading west for the festival and the races, asks Lorna Siggins, Western Correspondent.
Roll up, roll up, for the "ninth world wonder", which the Macnas street theatre troupe aims to unveil at its 21st birthday parade in Galway tomorrow. It has been billed as "magnificent", "extravagant" and "riotous", but the word is that it will only be truly wondrous if it resembles a voracious cryptosporidium filter.
And water filtration is still the business to be in, as the public health alert affecting all of Galway city and parts of the county runs into its fifth month. Bottled water suppliers are in very rude health; Macnas is taking no risks, using Galway Water products tomorrow afternoon for its parade participants and for its special effects.
Almost a fortnight ago, some 20,000 people living in an arc extending from Tuam to Athenry, Claregalway and Oranmore were told that it was safe to drink tap water again. However, some 70,000 people in the city and south Connemara must continue to boil or buy supplies, as local-authority engineers work towards providing a safe alternative.
The partial lift on July 9th came as a disappointment to businesses hoping that the alert could be scrapped altogether for the festival period - spanning the film fleadh, arts festival and race week. On the same day as the incidence-response team's press conference, Ballybrit racecourse made much of its "cryptosporidium-free" status. However, unless race-goers plan to brush their teeth and stay with the horses, the installation of an effective filtration system at the track is of limited comfort.
After the first notice to boil water was issued in mid-March, hotel industry sources predicted a €10 million loss this season, with bookings down by almost 30 per cent, even though a number of larger hotels tried to generate positive publicity with the purchase and installation of sophisticated filters. But the tour buses haven't abandoned the parking bays at Galway Cathedral, as had been forecast.
"You still won't get a bed in this city during race week at the end of this month, the arts festival says it recorded a 20 per cent increase in bookings last week, and I recently met representatives of six hotels who reported that they were holding up well," says Galway Chamber of Commerce chief executive Michael Coyle. "That said, the hotels more dependent on family units may be finding it harder, and it is not so much the cancellations as the calls that might have been - but were not - made.
"However, the weather appears to have overtaken the water issue, for the moment. Nationally, there has been an exit of Irish holidaymakers due to the monsoon-like rain. Ironically, these conditions are similar to those prevailing earlier this year, when this alert was first imposed."
THE HEALTH SERVICE Executive (HSE) West has said that test results for the cryptosporidium parasite in the water supply have reverted to "background" levels. There have also been no new laboratory-confirmed cases of cryptosporidiosis (the gastrointestinal illness caused by the parasite) in several weeks.
The third and vital element that would influence a decision to lift the alert to boil water is still missing, though, as engineering work continues to increase the volume of water drawn from an alternative supply at Luimnagh. This in turn would allow for closure of the old Terryland waterworks, where the parasite was first detected.
It is understood that one of the challenges encountered by the Galway County Council engineering team has been the pure quality of the Luimnagh supply.
Flocculation (clumping), one of the first steps in filtration, requires the presence of microscopic suspended organic particles in water, as this allows a flocculation "blanket" to form and absorb microbes and parasites. Such is the quality of Luimnagh's water that measures have had to be taken to facilitate this chemical process.
As Galway Chamber of Commerce hints, the local authorities need to be watching the weather, too. The precise source of the contamination of Lough Corrib, which supplies water to much of Galway city and county and to south Mayo, has still not been confirmed - publicly, at least. The HSE West has said that the "hominis" strain of the parasite, emanating from human sewage, was detected in the majority of laboratory-confirmed cases of the illness.
Back in March and early April, Galway County Council was keen to focus on the impact of heavy rainfall on agricultural land and on housing served by septic tanks bordering the Corrib catchment, rather than on its own outdated sewage-treatment plants on the lake shore in areas such as Oughterard and Headford. As the rain continues and the water table rises, rivers are not far from overflowing again.
Health officials have to be satisfied with tests over two cycles of the parasite (four weeks in total) before it can lift its order to boil water more extensively. "We're satisfied that everyone is working very hard to resolve this, although businesses will have their calculators out at the end of the season in relation to a rates rebate, which we believe needs to be higher than a promised 10 per cent," Michael Coyle says.
AND WHAT OF those who were seriously affected by the gastrointestinal illness, which can have long-term effects among people with suppressed immune systems? The HSE West's public health director, Dr Diarmuid O'Donovan, has said that just under 50 of the 238 laboratory-confirmed cases of people hospitalised with cryptosporidiosis in Galway this year have all recovered. The worst affected were young children.
O'Donovan has estimated that up to five times the number of laboratory- confirmed cases may have occurred in the Galway community. HSE West has said that continued monitoring of certain affected individuals is the responsibility of relevant clinical teams in the first instance.
An extraordinarily tolerant Galway populace - which is already beset by serious deficiencies in public transport, education and health in the State's fastest-growing city - appears to be "getting on with it". Political observers say that a sense of disempowerment on this issue was reflected in the general election return for Galway West.
City councillors were angry about the lack of information given to them on a damning risk assessment of cryptosporidium conducted in 2004. Yet where an east-coast constituency might have punished representatives of a government that was effectively, if accidentally, poisoning its populace, Galway West returned all five sitting TDs. And six members of city council management were awarded performance bonuses.
At boiling point? Measuring the temperature in Galway city.
Seamus Sheridan, Sheridan's Cheesemongers, Galway
"I believe that we've been getting worked up about this in quite a selfish way in Galway. There were signals - like the lobbying to reduce the Special Area of Conservation on Lough Corrib, which supplies us. I hope it teaches us a lesson that this is not a local issue, and that we have to respond in a holistic way."
Annemarie Dolan, Mother of two, Renmore, Galway
"We have two small children, including a baby, but fortunately we have had no illness. You overcome it, I suppose, but I notice my own consumption of water has dropped. I have two plastic water containers on the go all the time. Do I think the local authority is doing enough? To be honest, none of us have the time to go knocking on their doors, so I don't know."
Robert and Julieann Dixon, Tourists from Armagh
"It isn't an issue for us because if you go anywhere - Spain, for instance - you are buying bottled water anyway. We'd use bottled water to brush our teeth abroad, so the same goes for here. We'd feel more sorry for the people living here, especially those with young children. They should be angry. At the same time, water quality is something we haven't had a big issue with in the North. It is something we've all been taking for granted."
Kevin Richardson, Student, Moycullen, Co Galway
"We've been buying a few five-litre bottles for the family every week, and that adds to the bills, even if it is subsidised. We're boiling it and buying it, and at this stage you could say we've got used to it. Still, they managed to lift the alert in the east of the county, so what's the delay here? I am drinking less water. Tap water is an awful lot nicer."