FAECAL COLIFORM levels more than 570-million times the safe level for drinking water have been detected in the sinks of flats in Dolphin House, Dublin.
Tests carried out by Tobin Consulting Engineers on water which had come up through the plug holes of sinks and baths in the Dublin City Council flat complex found the levels of faecal coliforms were consistent with those found in raw sewage.
The concentration of faecal coliforms found in tests carried out during last summer were also 285,000 times the minimum EU water standards for bathing water at beaches and lakes.
The tests were commissioned by Barnardos on behalf of Rialto Rights in Action, the residents' group which has been campaigning for better living conditions in the flat complex. The group is ultimately seeking the regeneration of the 1950s estate by Dublin City Council.
The residents last May held a "human rights hearing" on the conditions in their flats which, in addition to the sewage problems, have extremely high levels of damp and mould.
Speaking at that hearing president of the Irish Human Rights Commission, Dr Maurice Manning, said the State and Dublin City Council were breaching a UN convention on social rights by failing to provide adequate housing conditions for residents of Dublin's Dolphin House.
"That convention says there is a right to adequate housing. The evidence that has been presented here, to my mind, certainly represents a breach of the criteria laid down by the UN in relation to what constitutes adequate housing," he added.
Research was presented at the hearing by NUI Maynooth microbiologist Dr Kevin Kavanagh in relation to the damp and mould found in the flats. Tests carried out by Dr Kavanagh showed evidence of Aspergillus fumigatus, a fungus known to cause lung disease.
The full report on the sewage tests carried out by Tobin Consulting Engineers will be published tomorrow at a follow up meeting to the May hearing. A monitoring report on all the detrimental conditions in the flats will also be published tomorrow.
Minister of State for Equality, Integration and Human Rights Mary White, Dr Manning and assistant Dublin city manager Martin Kavanagh are due to attend that meeting.
A spokesman for Dublin City Council said it would not be appropriate to comment on the sewage issues or on plans for regeneration of the estate until residents had first been briefed.
