Ms Angela Ryan:

In relation to the Cavanhill water treatment plant, the source is, as Mr. Cuddy said, Lough Muckno in County Monaghan. We have been looking at that source and it is a good source for water availability. However, we have found in a number of instances over the past few years that we have had some dry weather events and the levels in Lough Muckno have dropped two levels. That, on a historical timeline, is a very low level.

We are having a look at the causes of the manganese within our raw water supplies. Again, this requires us to look not just at this water treatment plant but at many others where we are seeing greater manganese issues. We are looking at process optimisation within our plants, but we will have to have further investigations and jar testing in order to understand the chemistry of the water and how we can improve the processes across those water supplies. It will probably require us, because it is a recurring issue across our supplies, to set up a programme to address that specific topic.