PROCTOR and Gamble, the US owned multinational cosmetics manufacturer, is expected to Face prosecution under the Water Pollution Act For contaminating the public water supply at Nenagh, Co Tipperary.
The maximum fine on conviction is £25,000 and/or a prison term of up to five years. The company could also be required to pay damages to local hoteliers, publicans and other businesses for any losses they have suffered.
In what is regarded as the worst such incident in recent years, Nenagh's population of 00 is still dependent on water tankers For drinking water nearly a week after being warned that the normal supply was unfit.
For two or three days before the supply was cut off, locals had complained that the water tasted like Oil of Ulay, one of the main products manufactured by Procter and Gamble at its Nenagh plant on the industrial estate at Gortlandroe.
"It appears that there was a leak of Oil of Ulay effluent from a sewer serving the plant, and this contaminated a shallow well on the industrial estate" said Mr lain MacLean, a director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is investigating the matter.
"It is not highly toxic but totally unacceptable aesthetically," he said. "We are talking to the company about it. Samples have been taken, which have gone to our Kilkenny laboratory For analysis, and more detailed tests are required before we decide what to do."
Mr MacLean confirmed that the Proctor and Gamble plant was involved in an incident in April which also polluted the town's water supply. This happened when a container of shower gel ruptured and leaked into the well.
He said the EPA would be looking at whether a source of drinking water should be located in such an area. It was currently considering an application From the company For an integrated pollution control licence covering all of its emissions.
No prosecution was taken in the April case, either by the EPA or North Tipperary County Council, the sanitary authority for the area. However, the latest incident is seen as much more serious, and it seems inevitable that Proctor and Gamble will bed prosecuted. The company employs 300 in the town.
The county manager, Mr John McGinley, was not available ford comment on the incident, queries to the Mid Western Health Board in Limerick were First referred to its regional office in Nenagh which, in turn, referred them back to the acting chief executive, Mr Ger Crowley, who could not be contacted.
The Nenagh Town Clerk, Mr Tony McCormack, said he had nothing to add to a statement he issued on Tuesday, which acknowledged that there was a problem and said what action had, been taken to deal with it. Monitoring was continuing but there were still no results from tests.
"We know where it is but we're not pointing a finger at any body," he said.
Asked if there was not a reluctance to name one of Nenaghs largest employers as the culprit, he denied this, adding that "whoever was responsible would be prosecuted but we have to have proof".
Pressed to detail the sequence of events, Mr McCormack said he First became aware of the problem on Tuesday last week. "On Wednesday, it was worse, so we turned off the water for a time to try and clean it out. This didn't work and it was still operating on Thursday."
It was not until the county engineer, Mr Seamus Malone, decided on Friday that the supply should be turned off that the public was alerted that the water was unfit. Since then, Nenagh has had to rely on tankers transporting water from the reservoir at Newtown.
Father Sean MacDonagh, a Columban priest and native of Nenagh, said many hoteliers, restaurateurs and publicans in the town were "extremely aggrieved", particularly during last weekend's music festival Aonach Paddy O'Brien, which attracted many visitors.
A spokesman for Proctor and Gamble said the company was working closely with the authorities to identify the source of the problem. No further statement would be made until the results of tests became available.
