Galway drinking water.

from that RTE report.

The HSE said tonight that the results do not confirm the parasite outbreak that has infected the drinking water of 90,000 people in Galway city and county is primarily caused by sewage.
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I think its important to correctly identify the primary source of the outbreak in a systematic fashion first in order to plan and execute effective remedial action.

I think it is dangerous to engage in knee jerk speculation and sensationalism. First the lambing season was blamed, then it was poorly functioning septic tanks in the catchment, then it was the over loaded local authority sewage treatment plant.

It may well be that it is one (or all) of these, it could also be that the root cause has yet to emerge.

I for one will be keeping an eye on the HSE website for the definitive statement.
 
ajapale said:
I think its important to correctly identify the primary source of the outbreak in a sytematic fashion first in order to plan and execute effective remedial action.
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You're right, I blame the immigrants.
 
radio 1 said today that most of it was from human waste with a small percentage of it coming from animal waste-14% i think.
just wish they bloody well sort it out!
how long is goin on now???
the idiots.
 
watch them run for dail elections in may. and 50% chance at least one of the local councillors will be elected.
 
just to let you know, crypotsporidium is a parasite which can affect most mammals, (humans, cows, sheep etc) it is quite common in calves sheep and deer and most outbreaks occur around calving and lambing time. each infected animal (or person) sheds millions of spores every time the defacate and can still shed spores for months after the diarhea has cleared up.
it usually gets into the water supply from faeces from infected animals getting into the water source (stream, river or lake). this can occur when infected animals defecate while they drink from streams, or from malfunctioning sewage treatment plants.
A average adult needs to ingest approximatley 150 spores to become symptomatic, babies need much less as there immune system have not developed. This is most likely the age group where most of the infected people come from. Showers are safe then, however do be careful that youg children do not drink bathwater when washing them.
deaths are rare from cryptosporidiosis, and if they occur they usually occur in immunosupressed individuals, eg people recieving chemotherapy.

Once cryptosporidium is in water it is very difficult to remove it from the water, normal disinfection doesn't kill it, it must be filtered out with a filter with a pore size less than 1 micron (1 millionth of a metre) (the thickness of a human hair is about 50 microns). this means that a new treatment plant would have to be built so there is no quick fix. A plant of this type was fitted in mullingar a few years back in mullingar after an outbreak there, but because the filters are so small, it kept clogging up and had to be bypassed, (choice no water, or water with risk of crypto)
The other option is to keep animals away from the water source and fix every faulty septic tank, sewage treatment plant around the water source and any feeder streams. not easy either.
unfortunatley the problem doesn't have an easy solution,

all i can say is the best of luck to the lads trying to sort the problem, and hope everyone infected gets better soon.
 
Since you're so knowledeable NiallA. I just have one question for you. Is it safe to let my dog drink tap water or should she have bottled water too?

Here was I hoping for a quick fix ! I'm fed up of the politicians blaming one another. The one who gets it sorted will get my vote.
 
Perplexed said:
I just have one question for you. Is it safe to let my dog drink tap water or should she have bottled water too?
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well pets can get cryptosporidiosis too. but as they usually drink from streams and puddles (and toilets if you leave the seat up) etc, their immune system is used to it so it most likely won't affect them.

there are different types that affect cats and dogs than infect livestock and humans

There is more info here
[broken link removed]
 
Thanks for that. She doesn't seem to have been affected by the tap water.

As you say she drinks from puddles & other places that a human wouldn't so I had presumed she'd be ok.
 
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