As a large area around Ramelton’s Loughside and Cashelshanaghan was left without a public water supply for over 40 hours at the weekend, Cllr. Ian Mc Garvey says Irish Water has failed the community.
Cllr. McGarvey said that hundreds of homes, visitor accommodation, farmers and business concerns were left without a supply of water for an unacceptable period of time on the busiest week of the year.
“And no amount of public relations spin can justify this unacceptable delay in dealing with a minor burst and Irish Water’s response was a disaster for all concerned,” he told the Tirconail Tribune.
Clr. McGarvey said it should have only taken a couple of hours to identify and fix the burst mains had the operation been in the hands of Donegal County Council.
Cllr. McGarvey said that he sat by his phone for hours on end trying to make contact with Irish Water engineers without any response: apart from an Indian phone operator in Cork who never heard of Ramelton and seemed to have great difficulty with the Donegal accent.
As the crises developed over Saturday night into Sunday, the community rushed to load supermarket trolleys with bottled water as they were forced to flush their toilets and cook.
Otherwise cattle troughs, showers and the general public water supply across 20 townlands in Cashelshanaghan and Loughside areas were left to wait…and wonder what on earth was Irish Water doing to find a solution.
Cllr. McGarvey says the real problem the people have to deal with is Irish Water as a utility and ask their politicians if it is fit for purpose.
“In fact, the real problem is Irish Water and their lack of local knowledge is adding greatly to the water crisis in Donegal and elsewhere,” added Cllr. McGarvey.
He said that claims by Irish Water that they were out attempting to locate the problem for almost two days rings hollow and he wants to see the details of their explorations and what lead to this shocking delay in identifying where the burst water pipe was located.
He said: “As a promoter of the Loughside Group Water scheme dating back for more than thirty years, this part of the county I never before experienced such a disaster and questions must be answered as to why a simple task to identify and repair a burst main was not dealt with on Saturday night.
“It is nonsense to suggest that Irish Water needs ‘a find and fix team’ for such a minor role and it is a waste of scarce resources. If that is all they can come up with then it is time for the public to raise their voices and demand answers because it is obvious that Irish Water is not able to produce the answers,” he added.
Among the areas worst affected by the burst mains were the Letterkenny Road: Ramelton Road, Ardsbeg, Killycreen, Prablin, Glenleary, Arddrumman, Carrowcashel, Cairn Hill, Killydonnell, Carrygault, Shellfield and their surroundings.
Meanwhile, the Lough Colmcille lake supplying public water to Ramelton, Rathmullan and Milford has not shown any recovery despite an additional rainfall of 10mm compared with Juny and July of 2016.
Lough Colmcille’s level dropped in the period to August 8th by 1.5” to leave the current level at 124.0” below overflow weir. Intermittent rainfall in this slowly reacting catchment is having little noticeable effect. Temporary pumping (via diesel pump) of the source is ongoing as the existing siphon stopped on a few occasions due to the intake of air. The diesel pump will be used as a standby after a primary electrical pump is installed over the next two weeks.
Local notices are to be erected at local shops, restaurants, filling stations to remind customers of the current problems, to report leaks, and conserve water are in the process of being erected. Recently all households supplied from Milford were sent leaflets from Irish Water outlining the current position and appealing for more conservation measures.
Irish Water has also approved a contractor to extend Goldrum supply from Bunlin Bridge to Milford town to allow a further 335m3/d into Milford from the Goldrum. Work has now commenced on site and is expected to be completed by end of August or early September 2017. Pressure filter repair/ media replacement at Goldrum has been completed and all filters are now fully operational although some glitches are still being worked on.
An increased duty raw water pump at Goldrum for the Lough Keel supply has been installed following pressure vessel servicing which will provide increased flexibility.
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