Vol. 564 No. 1
111 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the steps being taken to deal with the recent disclosure from the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland that as many as 4,000 homes nation-wide may have drinking water contaminated with dangerously high radon levels; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8763/03]
The Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland recently published the results of a pilot study of drinking water supplies in 166 houses in County Wicklow which identified four supplies, representing 2.4% of the total, with radon concentrations above the European Commission recommended action level. According to the RPII, assuming that the survey was representative of other private ground water supplies in Wicklow then between 35 and 100 households may have drinking water supplies above the EC recommended reference level. If it is further assumed that the results from Wicklow can be extrapolated nationally, then between 3,000 and 4,000 drinking water supplies may exceed the EC recommended reference level. However, this is likely to be a pessimistic estimate as the geology of Wicklow, unlike many other counties, favours the production of radon.
Because it is a gas, radon is easily removed from water by boiling. Thus there should be no concerns about drinking tea or coffee. Use of water for cooking is also perfectly safe. Under my Department's rural water programme, grants are available through the county councils for the upgrading and improvement, including any necessary radon remediation measures, of a quality deficient private group water scheme supply or the improvement of a private individual supply in cases where an alternative public or group scheme supply is not readily available.
