Boil Water Notice for Rathlin Island Customers

14 October 2011 16:48

Incident Details

Northern Ireland Water has identified a potential quality issue with water supplied on Rathlin Island. Having liaised with the Public Health Agency, NI Water is advising all customers on the island to boil water for cooking and drinking as a precaution (bringing water to the boil is sufficient). We are working in full co-operation with the Public Health Agency, as well as the local Council and the Drinking Water Inspectorate for Northern Ireland

Approximately 63 properties are supplied by mains water on the island. All 63 properties will be asked to Boil Water before use.

Further testing will continue until samples have returned to normal; NI Water is also working to discover what could have caused this deterioration in water quality. Customers will be notified as soon as their water can be used without boiling. This information will be relayed via NI Water personnel, as well as our website and social media sites.


Customer Advice

Please continue to boil water required for drinking or cooking until further notice. We are continuing to sample water and will give notification as soon as we are satisfied there is no need to boil water before use.

There are normally three possible responses to a water quality incident –

1) boil water;
2) do not drink or cook with water from your tap;
3) do not use water from your tap under any circumstances

The current incident requires you to boil water before use, and there is no indication at this point that the situation will deteriorate further.


Supporting Information for Customers

Each year, NI Water tests thousands of water samples from our water treatment works. Our number one priority is the quality and safety of your drinking water. Every day, we take hundreds of samples and every year we test the quality of water at least 120,000 times. Our policy is to err on the side of caution if we believe there might be a risk to your water supply. We will keep you fully informed if we believe there is any cause for concern.

NI Water would like to thank customers for their patience and apologise for the inconvenience this will cause. Customers can contact us on 08457 440088 for further information.

• Boil Water Notice