Irish Water and Mayo County Council have confirmed that the boil water notice which was imposed on the Lough Mask Regional Water Supply Scheme and associated Group Water Schemes on Friday night remains in place.

A routine water sample detected cryptosporidium in the treated water coming from the Lough Mask Water Treatment Plant - the boil water notice has been put in place to protect 46,500 people who are supplied from the plant.

A statement said that both organisations have been “working tirelessly” since the boil water notice was announced to find a resolution to the situation.

An incident management team was set up on Friday and auditing and testing of water from the treatment plant has been taking place across the network over the weekend. The water company commented:

"A full and comprehensive audit of the Lough Mask Water Treatment Plant will take place today by the Environmental Protection Agency and the results of the audit, combined with the results from the weekend’s sampling will be taken into consideration when deciding the next steps."

Until the audit is complete and all of the data is available Irish Water, Mayo County Council and the HSE say they will not be in a position to speculate as to when the boil water notice will be lifted.

Irish Water and Mayo County Council are urging the public to continue to follow the advice of the HSE and boil water before consumption.