Kerry to boost water treatment

Kerry drinking water consumers will no longer be at risk from sub-standard drinking water by the end of next year, according to Kerry County Council.


The council’s director of water services has said that a Euro 10m programme is in place to improve water schemes’ treatment for cryptosporidium.

Although Kerry has never had a cryptosporidium outbreak, the Environmental Protection Agency had warned that residents were at risk due to a lack of mechanisms to deal with such an event.

Cyptosporidium is a parasite that causes gastro-intestinal illness.

South Kerry Independent Alliance councillor, Michael Gleeson, told the Irish Examiner: “There’s an enormous obligation on us to take corrective action, where necessary.”

He called for regular spot checks on septic tanks, as many had been poorly built in the past.

Earlier this year residents in the Iveragh peninsula of Co Kerry were urged to test their wells for arsenic after it was found to be naturally occurring in the bedrock.

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