Current south Leitrim water system is 'crumbling' - councillors speak out

Uisce Éireann came under attack at the latest Ballinamore meeting when Cllr Gary Prior said that something had to be done about constant water outages in the area. 

Cllr Prior said the current water system is "crumbling at the moment in the south Leitrim area from the Uisce Éireann end of things and it doesn't seem to be fit for purpose; the lads on Friday night had a huge task at Edentinny from 5am to the following 3am, digging up a 40 year old asbestos pipe, which is ludicrous. Uisce Éireann will have to put major investment into the water scheme here."

READ MORE: Superheroes Ahoy: 63rd Shannon boat rally sets sail from Rooskey

He said that businesses in the Ballinamore area are losing business due to the outages. "The hairdressers had to shut down and local food outlets had to close for the evening and are asking if the council is going to reduce their rates."

Addressing the meeting, Cllr Prior said: "I've had a huge amount of queries and I'm sure every councillor is inundated, even right up to this morning; there is another leak in Keshcarrigan and a huge amount of problems there in the last two or three weeks."

READ MORE: Leitrim County Council moves to ensure no ties with rights-abusing firms

He said it was the second leak in Keshcarrigan involving the main trunk water line and added that there was an issue at the plant Carrick-on-Shannon.

"The water was shut down due to high temperatures for safety reasons; there were eight or nine hours of pumping water lost with upper mung empty and lower mung almost empty. Ballinamore has been almost empty for the last two weeks," he noted. 

He continued that Aughawillan was almost empty as was Corraleehan. 

Cllr Brendan Barry described the previous week as a "rough week" and said it was "one thing after another" saying there was another burst pipe last night in Keshcarrigan. 

He said that while a considerable amount of work has been carried out on the pipe to date, the remaining untouched sections were now starting to cause issues. "Today it could be one section of pipe, tomorrow another; it's all at the end of it's life span and will have to replaced at some stage so the best thing to do now is put in the funding as soon as possible and replace the main instead of incurring huge costs and having crews out for days and so many people without water; spending up €12,000 and at the end of all that expense, we'll have to put in the same lump sum of money to replace the main."

READ MORE: 

Cllr Paddy O'Rourke said if the cost of all the repairs that had taken place along the mains as well as the cost of maintenance were added up, "it doesn't make sense". 

He asked how much of the mains is left to be replaced and Cllr Prior said he believed that 2km of the pipe remains untouched. 

Cllr O'Rourke said that "every day an asbestos pipe is in the ground, it is a day too many."

Cllr Prior said he felt it was like "putting a plaster over it and hoping that it will hold. The lads on the ground are exhausted and out at all hours and will be all this week trying to shut off areas to keep water going to other areas. They are doing their best but it's unsafe. They were out at 2am last Friday night working under the lights of the machine trying to get water back for the town and the businesses the next morning. They shouldn't have to be put in that position."

READ MORE: Part of old N4 road in Leitrim could see upgrades next year, subject to funding

He suggested contacting Uisce Éireann and requesting that they attend the Ballinamore municipal district meeting in order to allow the councillor to put their views and questions forward to them. 

Cllr O'Rourke supported the suggestion with Cllr Barry stressing that the Ballinamore municipal district is "particularly badly hit" when it comes to water outages. 

Cllr O'Rourke said that Ballinamore is "essentially a tourist town trying to make a living" with Cllr Prior noting that a business person told him that they had lost out on three weeks of business in total due to water outages and Storm Éowyn. That's a huge loss to any small business and it's not good enough."