Caroline O'Doherty: 'Latest water woes just the tip of a very flawed system across country'

Problem: Emma Purcell (8), from north Co Dublin, is among the hundreds of thousands of people forced in recent weeks to use bottled water for everyday tasks such as brushing their teeth. Photo: Mark Condren

Caroline O'Doherty

The boil water notice affecting 615,000 people in the east of the country may be the biggest and most disruptive ever but the only unique thing about it is its scale.

All around the country, the problems that have plagued the Leixlip Water Treatment Plant are being played out in miniature.