Ballyheigue water warning: where to collect supplies this week

Residents on the Ballyheigue Public Water Supply should still avoid drinking tap water. Uisce Éireann’s 27 October update keeps the do-not-consume notice in place, including the western catchment of the Clanmaurice Group Water Scheme.

Boiling affected tap water does not make it safe. Do not use it for food preparation, cooking, brushing teeth, ice or infant formula. Household filters do not remove the risk.

Where to collect water

On Thursday 29 and Friday 30 October, bottled-water collection is staffed from 11:30am–2pm and 5:30pm–8pm at:

• Causeway Church car park
• Kilmoyley Church car park
• Ballyheigue beach car park
• Ballyheigue old graveyard
• Cantillon’s Cross, Kerry Head

Bulk tankers are available around the clock. Bring containers. Unlike the affected tap supply, water collected from these tankers should be boiled before drinking, following the utility’s HSE-backed advice.

Check the linked notice for changes and its affected-area map. For help, including registering a vulnerable household, call Uisce Éireann on 1800 278 278.

If collecting water is difficult

Irish Rural Link warned on 19 October that collection points can be difficult to reach for people living alone, people with disabilities and households without transport. Its call for support highlights why access matters as much as the presence of a tanker.

New to the area? Check which supply serves your address using the utility’s map or customer-care team. Do not assume the warning covers every home in Kerry.

Photograph: Ballyheigue beach and seafront in September 2023, not the current water-distribution operation. Rauenstein / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Cropped and resized under the same licence.