The Office of the Environmental Protection Agency are said to still be considering their option to prosecute the council over the five-month water crisis in the city. Directions from the EPA were sent to City Manager Joe MacGrath on the 15 June and clearly state that the council must ‘cease to use water supplied by Terryland old water treatment plant at the earliest possible date and no late than the 15 June.’

“It was a considerable amount of time before they stopped using the Terryland plant and did not comply with this directive. I am calling on the EPA to prosecute the council. They have to be seen to do this because otherwise they will become just another layer of bureaucracy.”

But this is not the first time that the council have failed to adhere to EPA guidelines; an audit report from 2004/2005 was also ignored. When news of the violations broke two weeks ago, the EPA told the Galway Independent that they were conducting an internal review and would ‘make a decision in a couple of weeks.’

A spokesperson for the council said that the matter is in the hands of the EPA and they will await their decision.

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