Contaminated water supply drives company to insolvency

Image source, Getty

Image caption, The company says contamination to its water source by a 'third-party' has forced insolvency
  • Author, Andrew McNair
  • Role, 大象传媒 News NI

A water bottling company in County Armagh has gone into administration due to a contamination in its water supply, threatening dozens of jobs.

Classic Mineral Water (CMW) issued a statement to employees on Tuesday confirming that financial losses had 鈥渇orced directors to enter an insolvency administration process鈥.

The company distributes bottled water from its headquarters in Lurgan to a number of retailers including Tesco, Aldi and Lidl.

In August, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland recalled various Comeragh still and sparking water products in the Republic of Ireland after CMW discovered the contamination as part of 鈥渃ontinuous testing鈥.

Borewells contaminated

The company sources its water from four borewells on its site which it says delivers over 100,000 litres of water every hour.

In the statement, which has been seen by the 大象传媒, the company blames the contamination on 鈥渢hird-party sources鈥.

大象传媒 News NI has asked the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs for comment.

CMW said on 8 August it had 鈥渟topped production immediately to undertake a borewell cleaning programme鈥 to attempt to resolve the issue.

Chief Executive Liam Duffy said he does not believe it will impact customers because they "stopped production in time".

Image source, Google

Image caption, The company distributes its products to a number of leading supermarkets

大象传媒 News NI understands about 60 jobs are under threat in Lurgan, with dozens of others indirectly affected at companies contracted by CMW.

Its most recent accounts show 81 employees.

It is understood that staff members have not been given any clarity over their future, or whether they are to return to work.

Ireland鈥檚 oldest water bottling company

Classic Mineral Water was founded in 1948 and describes itself as Ireland鈥檚 oldest water bottling company.

In July, the owner and chief executive of the company, Liam Duffy, told the 大象传媒 he had overseen 拢10m of investment in new buildings and production equipment in the last four years.

He said this had allowed the business to increase its production range.

Last year, it lauded that a 拢3.4m investment allowed it to hire 16 new staff at its base in Lurgan.

Mr Duffy declined to comment further on the closure or the contamination.