Farmers have been urged today (Wednesday, September 27) by Uisce Éireann to sign up to a text alert service which can provide local updates on water supplies.
The water utility said the text service alerts people when there is a drinking water restriction, or when outages are planned or unplanned and also in relation to boil notices
Head of customer operations for Uisce Éireann, Geoffrey Bourke, said: “We understand the inconvenience and disruption water outages can cause to businesses. We also understand the importance of keeping our customers informed.
“That’s why we are launching our awareness campaign for our text alert system to provide local updates to our agri-business customers, enabling them to plan and adapt accordingly.”
The alerts appear when there are network issues which may affect water quality or long periods of outages .
The service also lets people know relevant information about the issue such as the length of time it is expected to last.
According to Bourke, by signing up to the service, farmers and businesses “can stay prepared and minimise any potential impact”.
The utility also provides detailed, local and national information about services and supply issues on its website.
Uisce Éireann said today that although “significant investment” has been made to upgrade the national network there is “more work to be done”.
It also warned that as part of this investment there will be supply outages, both planned and unplanned, from time to time, and it is aware that “these can be disruptive”.
Boil notice
Meanwhile, Uisce Éireann has also confirmed that following consultation with the Health Service Executive, it has issued a boil water notice for the area supplied by the Cappamore Foileen Public Water Supply to protect public health.
It said that in the region of 2,321 people are impacted by the boil water notice.
“This notice is being issued due to the detection of cryptosporidium. The affected area includes Carrigmore which is now supplied from the Cappamore scheme,” it added.