Dont drink the water

last updated 8 January 2015

Galway, Ireland

Tap water in Ireland’s third-largest city is tainted with massive levels of cryptosporidium, a parasite that causes diarrhea. More than 150 Galwegians have gotten sick over the last several weeks, and authorities are now telling residents to drink only bottled water until the source of the contamination is located. Residents say they can’t afford to. “I’m spending up to three euros [$4] a day on bottled water,” resident Sarah Doran told the BBC this week. “If this goes on for nine months, as we’ve been told it could, that’s going to add up.” The city council said it would try to work out some kind of subsidy to make clean water available at a low cost.