A CONSULTANT microbiologist called on the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) to consider appropriate public awareness actions in October 2007 after 23 per cent of bottled water samples in her area over a four-week period were found to be contaminated.
Dr Eleanor McNamara, director of the public health laboratory in the HSE Dublin Mid Leinster area, wrote to the authority on October 12th, 2007, with concerns about the results of the bottled water samples which were being analysed as part of an FSAI study.
Some of the samples analysed in her laboratory in September 2007, when the authority’s study began, had been found to contain E.coli, coliforms and enterococci. Coliforms are a group of bacteria that raise concerns regarding the standards of hygiene of the water source or the bottling process.
"I feel this warrants an urgent national FSAI review of survey results to date and consideration of appropriate public awareness actions," Dr McNamara said in her letter, which has been released to The Irish Timesunder the Freedom of Information Act.
She said there could be a potential national problem and noted a feeling that the FSAI “had some confusion on the public health significance” of the results.
Ultimately, there was no public health alert issued. Stores with the bottled water were asked to withdraw stocks and manufacturers were contacted to ensure product withdrawal. The FSAI said yesterday that Dr McNamara’s laboratory was one of seven which analysed water samples for the food safety watchdog’s Microbiological safety and quality of bottled water survey, which ran from September to December 2007. It said hers was just one opinion. The FSAI decided the findings in relation to bottled water contamination did not signify a risk to public health.
Another document released indicates questions were also being asked in the HSE on October 15th, 2007, on whether or not the public should be told. “It is not clear if the obligations to notify consumers in Regulation 16 (4) and 16 (7) have been met,” Dave Molloy wrote in a note to his superior Martin Devine.
Minutes of a meeting involving FSAI officials indicate there was confusion among HSE environmental health officers in October 2007 over action which should be taken in the event of bottled water test results being unsatisfactory.
Correspondence released shows a senior officer in the FSAI contacted the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about what it does when E.coli was found in public water supplies. Ray Ellard later wrote to colleagues in the FSAI saying the EPA confirmed “that there is a zero tolerance for E.coli in public water supplies” and a local authority would have to consult the HSE on whether to issue a public boil water notice when E.coli was found.
He noted that sometimes when E.coli is at low levels, no boil water notice is issued where the problem can be rectified speedily.