Test from May 2025 used in assessment of boil water notice currently in place in Waterford
The issue was raised at the September sitting of Comeragh District Council
A Comeragh councillor has queried why a failed test in May 2025 was used to impose a boil water notice on a Waterford estate.
A boil water notice for Woodlands estate in Portlaw was announced in mid-August but was later suspended until August 21, and is now in effect.
Councillor Declan Clune raised the issue at the September sitting of the Comeragh District Council.
He said documents supporting the notice referred to a water quality test carried out in May 2025.
“Why are they using a 2025 test? Do we not have more recent tests?
"And if there were issues identified in May 2025, why haven’t they been addressed by now?” said Cllr Clune.
Cllr Clune noted that a new contractor had been found and approved by the council and asked when the boil water notice would be lifted.
Senior Executive Officer Environment Department Dawn Wallace said that an email was circulated on Friday.
That email said that works would start on September 27 and are expected to take two days.
Ms Wallace said it was a HSE test that had found the issue, and it was their responsibility to impose the boil water notice and the site owners to rectify the problem.
“This is about public health at the end of the day, so we can’t take risks,” said Ms Wallace.
