Tyrone farming family quoted up to £300,000 for water supply connection

William and Stephen Ballantine, who live in the Gortin area, are living without a water supply connection due to the alleged estimated cost of bringing the “basic service” to them.

Instead, they currently have a private well supplying them with water which has been found to be “not fit for human consumption, or even to be used for human hygiene”.

The findings came after the family asked Fermanagh and Omagh District Council’s environmental health department to carry out tests.

It was recommended the current water supply be thoroughly investigated for any sources of contamination, with the presence of both coliform bacteria and enterococci indicated.

Environmental health stated: “Following analysis, it has been confirmed by the laboratory that the supply is unsatisfactory for human consumption due to gross bacteriological contamination.”

“...E.coli is an indicator of not only recent faecal contamination, but also the possible presence of intestinal disease-causing bacteria, viruses and protozoa.”

Ulster Unionist councillor, Bert Wilson, said it is “amazing that in today’s society, some families living in this part of the western world cannot access clean water supply”.

Cllr Wilson, who has been assisting the family in relation to the matter, said the estimate received is “totally out of the range of financial viability for this family and, indeed, other families in the area”.

He added: “In today’s society, the fact that families cannot viably access what is a very basic service of clean water, which most of us take for granted, is almost unbelievable.

“I am going to ask the Department for Infrastructure, FODC and NI Water if they can put in place a scheme that would assist these families to provide them with the very basic facility of clean water,” Cllr Wilson concluded.