- Home
- Companies
- TOBIN Consulting Engineers
- Services
- Drinking Water Incident Management ...
Drinking Water Incident Management Services
There have been several high-profile water supply incidents in Ireland in recent years, ranging from cryptosporidium contamination, to lead exceedances, to flooding and loss of supply. Ireland suffered two extreme winters, in 2009-2010 and again in 2010-2011, resulting in extensive and protracted supply interruptions across the country. In addition, serious flooding across parts of the island in November 2009 resulted in the inundation of a number of large water treatment works. These incidents have highlighted the urgency of putting systems in place to protect drinking water supplies, both in terms of prevention and responding to incidents when they happen.
TOBIN are proud to have developed the first nationwide Drinking Water Incident Management (DWIM) system in Ireland, on behalf of the National Water Services Training Group. This initiative has seen Drinking Water Incident Response Plans (DWIRP) developed at a Water Services Authority level, to set out the Authority’s strategy and protocols for responding to water quality incidents, or loss of service incidents. The development of the management system included extensive liaison with the Health Service Executive, EPA and other key stakeholders. TOBIN have also assisted in establishing this DWIM system nationally, through targeted training of key personnel within each authority. This system developed by TOBIN has now been accepted as the standard approach for responding to incidents in Ireland, and it is now a requirement under Section 8 of the EPA’s Drinking Water Handbook 2010.