Water supplies in Galway will not be cleared for public consumption for at least six weeks, it has emerged.
Galway City Council have admitted there has been a "slide" in meeting a deadline of June 15th for closing the old Terryland waterworks, where the cryptosporidiumparasite was detected three months ago.
The council has been working to draw in an alternative water supply from the Luimnagh-Tuam system in the north of the county, allowing it to close Terryland.
Replacement supplies are being taken in via the water-treatment plant at Luimnagh, at a rate of 2,000 cubic metres a day. It was hoped to have this additional supply up to 17,000 cubic metres by June 15th.
City council director of services Ciarán Hayes said today a number of "slight hiccups" had resulted in a delay in completing the work on the Luimnagh plant. Mr Hayes conceded that the deadline set in April of June 15th for completion of the work was "very ambitious", and that it would be at least two weeks before it was finished.
"Nobody should underestimate the scale or complexity of what we are trying to achieve," he said. "The capacity of the plant to produce water is effectively being doubled, and there is the introduction of chemical treatment at the plant as well."
Upgrading work on the Luimnagh facility had originally been scheduled for completion by September or October of this year. This was "accelerated" due to the cryptosporidiumoutbreak that has affected at least 236 people since the start of the year, according to the Health Service Executive (HSE) West.
Some 75 per cent of these cases have been infected by cryptosporidium hominis, which is associated with human sewage, and 40 people have been admitted to hospital. Most cases referred to doctors involved children under 10.
The boil notice imposed by the HSE West requires at least four weeks after a clean supply is in place before it can be lifted.
This means that boil water measures are likely to extend into July, the busiest month in Galway's tourism calendar, possibly affecting the Galway Races and the Arts Festival.