Galway councils urged to fund water filters

The two local authorities in Galway should consider subsidising the cost of domestic filters in all houses, which was one of …

The two local authorities in Galway should consider subsidising the cost of domestic filters in all houses, which was one of the strategies adopted in Milwaukee in the United States after water contamination there, a local TD has urged.

Labour Party president Michael D. Higgins said that Galway should learn from the experience of sister city Milwaukee, which had a cryptosporidium outbreak in 1993 in which 400,000 people were infected and over 100 died.

As part of the response there, commercial companies marketed filters certified by the National Sanitation Foundation in the US which could be fitted beneath sinks.

"The filter cartridge should be a carbon block with a micron size of 1.0 or smaller. The [Galway] city council, at its meeting this week, should consider making a request for such a strategy to the Department of the Environment in terms of funding and the giving of grants for such adaptations," Mr Higgins stated. "It should also seek funding for filters at appropriate points where people could collect clean water. It should seek staff and funding for an emergency distribution system and it should put in place a recycling initiative for the increased volume of plastic containers."

READ MORE

Adrian Hamilton, managing director of Simply Water, said that after 20 years of research into water filter systems he had developed a system which removed dangerous bacteria and all parasites, including cryptosporidium.

"Despite Government efforts to find a solution to the problem, Galway residents are still being told to boil their water. Clean drinking water is a basic human need and the people of Galway must have an immediate solution. Our system provides individual households with peace of mind that their water is clean and safe to drink," Mr Hamilton said.

The Simply Water filter system costs €248. The company says that it can be installed in homes in about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, the Health Service Executive (West) has reiterated its advice to the public that water brought to the boil in domestic kettles kills cryptosporidium.

The number of people with confirmed cases of the infection remains unchanged at 178.