Angry residents say water is undrinkable
By Brendan Grehan
A LUCAN woman has been forced to spend over €400 a year on water as she claims her tap water is undrinkable.
Mairead Hilliard who lives in Woodview Estate says that she has not drunk water from the tap for a number of years.
Mairead Hilliard
She told The Echo: “I can’t drink it. It’s undrinkable. It smells of chlorine. I have not been able to drink it for a number of years. It smells awful.”
Mairead says that she now spends €8 a week on large bottles of water for cooking and on sparkling water which she uses for drinking.
She said: “They shouldn’t put fluoride in it either. I won’t drink it and a lot of my neighbours say they have the same problem. I bet big business concerns not too far from Lucan and in the Kildare area are not on the same water supply as home owners in Lucan.”
Mairead said that she has contacted her local TD’s but she says that they are not interested.
No response
She added: “I have also contacted South Dublin County Council and Irish Water but I get no response.
The Echo contacted South Dublin County Council with Ms Hilliard’s concerns.
A Spokesman for SDCC said: “Please note that Irish Water have been the water services authority for drinking water services since 1st January 2014. Since then Local Authorities have carried out works and provided services for them under a Service Level Agreement.
“Under the terms of that agreement it is the sole responsibility for Irish Water to respond to press queries and public relations issues. Irish Water have asked us to investigate the matter that you have raised on their behalf so that they can respond to your query.
“In order to fully investigate the matter for them, I have requested the exact address of the complainant as we are unaware of any specific issue in relation to water quality in the area.”
The Echo contacted Irish Water on a number of occasions and did not receive a reply before the paper went to press.
