Irish Water and Donegal County Council continue to implement a major incident plan following the flooding of the Bundoran Water Treatment Plant, which is not operating, as a result of an Atlantic storm.
The utility said it has installed further flood defences and is working to bring the plant back into full service “at the earliest opportunity”.
Called Storm Desmond, the storm has struck parts of England, Scotland and Ireland with flooding, rain and wind recorded over 100 mph during the weekend.
In Cumbrian and Lancashire, England, more than 43,000 homes were reported to be suffering from power cuts, with 5,200 homes affected by flooding.
Irish Water said normal water supply has been maintained, despite dealing with 84 separate incidents affecting the operation of its water treatment plants due to the effects oftthe Atlantic storm.
Power cuts, flooding or a reduced ability to produce clean drinking water due to the quality of water coming into many plants are being managed and closely monitored on an ongoing basis by local authorities working on behalf of the national utility.
Water is being supplied to the area from Ballyshannon Water Supply Scheme and from neighbouring counties of Leitrim, Fermanagh (with the assistance of Northern Ireland Water) to reduce the overall number of customers without water.
In Galway, following advice from the HSE, a precautionary boil water notice has been put in place for customers supplied by the Ballinasloe Public Water Supply scheme.
Water levels of the river Suck have risen significantly and affected the normal working of the water treatment plant. Irish Water said an operational team has been on site since early Sunday morning and 230,000 litres of water per hour were being pumped out of the affected area.
Ray O’Dwyer, head of operations at Irish Water, said: “Many of our plants were flooded in recent days, and power and access was cut off to others due to the storm. We are pumping out water, restarting pumps and treatment processes, putting up flood barriers and clearing out tanks, drains and overflows to get our plants back up and running at full capacity as soon as possible.”
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