Dr. Michelle Minihan:

This is where the awareness training Irish Water has undertaken in the interim, over the past few weeks, comes in. The training is on what constitutes an incident, what should be reported to and escalated to Irish Water and what needs to be reported to the EPA and the HSE. That training will be key in ensuring that when these types of incidents occur, they are escalated in a timely manner, the appropriate risk assessment is undertaken to ensure the protection of public health, the HSE is consulted, a decision is made on whether a boil water notice might be warranted and the EPA is notified. That training, and that understanding of what constitutes an incident, should result in rising awareness as to what an incident in a plant is, what action the operator needs to take and to whom they need to escalate the matter in a timely manner.