• Tweeter

  • republish

A Dublin street, March 22, 2017 (image for illustration). Geography Photos / Universal Images Group via Getty Images

In Ireland, 600 000 people are banned from drinking tap water in the Dublin area, which represents more than 10% of the population. Water does not meet the potability criteria. This is the second time it has happened in the space of three weeks. The Irish Water Company had to explain itself to Parliament.

With our correspondent in Dublin, Émeline Vin

For Irish Water, the culprit is the age of the Leixlip treatment site, west of Dublin. The 40-year-old center is no longer able to react effectively to water quality alerts, so it becomes infected and becomes non-consumable for several days.

But it is impossible to put this center to a standstill, it supplies one in five Dubliners. Interrupting water treatment in Leixlip, is to risk to ban showers and flushing the entire capital.

Renovation works are still underway for over a year. It is besides the conjunction of these works with very heavy rains, last weekend, which would be at the origin of this new episode.

This work is expected to last in theory until next year. So on Tuesday the deputies called Irish Water to demand that these restrictions do not start again.

In some supermarkets, less than 24 hours after the announcement of the deposit, the departments dedicated to the mineral water packs were already empty. Irish Water indicates that the water will not be consumable until at least this Thursday.