Irish Water unable to say when Newcastle mains will be replaced
Irish Water have committed this week to replacing the crumbling water main in the Newcastle area that has left thousands of householders high and dry over recent weeks . . . but the question is when.
In a statement issued this week by Irish Water, they said that plans and funding ‘are being put in place’ to replace the old main on the Thomas Hynes Road that services five main estates in Newcastle – Tudor Lawn, Hazel Park, Cherry Park, Fairlands Park and Greenfields.
However the company said that at this stage they weren’t in a position ‘to put a timeframe on the work’ although they did say it ‘will be advanced as quickly as possible’.
According to Irish Water, there have been four water outages in the past week, impacting on 3,000 people as well as hotels and businesses.
The latest burst occurred on Sunday last and involved a six hour cut in the water supply as City Council staff repaired the burst pipe.
Local councillor, Billy Cameron, said that while everyone welcomed news that the main was to be replaced, there was an onus on Irish Water to complete the work as ‘a matter of utmost urgency’.
“People are already up to their necks with taxes and charges and then, after all that, to have their water supply cut off every second day, is just not good enough.
“The Council staff are working flat out to carry out those repairs but everyone knows that the only permanent solution to this problem is a new main, but work on this needs to start over the coming weeks,” said Cllr Cameron.
A spokesman for the City Council said that at the very best, it took six hours to repair a leak, and possibly up to 12 hours in more difficult situations.
“Our latest call-out was last Sunday and we were on the job within a half hour of the pipe burst been reported. We had completed the repairs in six hours,” said the spokesman.
According to Irish Water, ‘there are no obvious reasons’ for the pipe bursts although the AC (asbestos concrete) eight inch main could be reaching the end of its natural life span. It will be replaced with a PVC (plastic) pipe.
“We are carrying out minor amendments to the network involving putting in place an alternative feed to part of this area in the event of further bursts,” said Irish Water.
The Galway City Tribune has learned that this alternative will be used mainly to provide a supply to the IDA Business Park in Dangan, the Westwood Hotel and part of the NUI Galway complex.