Tag Archives: Irish Water

Sewage flowing into our greatest natural resource, the River Shannon, is unacceptable, says O’Brien IRISH Water has been urged to fast-track the upgrading of the existing Ballina Wastewater Treatment Plant following Tipperary County Council’s recent planning approval for these works. Repeated overflows of the treatment plant, which has resulted in pollution of the nearby River Shannon has prompted calls for major upgrading of this overloaded sewerage treatment facility. Tipperary County Council has stated upgrading works are programmed to start in the fourth quarter of 2022, with a completion date by the end of 2024, subject to funding and statutory approvals. The plant, which serves the wastewater needs of Ballina and Killaloe, has a 4,000-person equivalent capacity and the current load estimate on this plant is for a 5,400-person equivalent. Councillor Tony O’Brien confirmed Clare county councillors have not been informed of any change in the projected completion of these long-awaited improvement works. “There is a major issue with the existing …

‘DON’T drink and drive’ is the timely message from the TY3 class at St Joseph’s Secondary School in Tulla. Looking ahead to the situation at packed beaches, lakes and rivers around the county, they undertook a Young Social Innovators (YSI) campaign to highlight the role of alcohol in water-based incidents. The team’s research found one-third of drowning deaths annual are related to alcohol. The project is supported by Clare County Council, the RNLI and Irish Water Safety. “We are going to spread our message about the dangers of drinking and swimming in  Lahinch, Kilkee and all along the coast this summer so watch out for our posters coming into the summer,” the team said.

AN Ennis family are the raining champions following success in a nationwide conservation competition. Green-Schools, in partnership with Irish Water, recently announced the winners of its Water Conservation Photo Competition, with one of the five winning families being from Ennis. The winning entry from Ennis was taken by Áine Purcell of her daughter Róisín and Róisín’s Grandad working together on a rainwater harvesting system. The competition encouraged families all over Ireland to save water by asking students to do water saving activities at home, and for parents/guardians to put a photo of them on Twitter or Instagram. The best five photos were chosen by Green-Schools, with winning families getting waterproof cameras. Other winners for the competition this year included a system to keep plants watered in the summer; a smart way to save water when washing a car, an inventive idea to use the water from a tumble dryer for watering plants; and a family who always saves water washing …

THERE is to be further disruption to water supplies in a west Clare community this week as work progresses on water main improvements. These works will impact water supply on Tuesday, June 1, and Thursday, June 3 between 10am and 4pm primarily to Milltown Malbay village. They may however also impact on Spanish Point and surrounding areas. These works may also impact on all group schemes fed from the supply including Rinnen and Glendine schemes. Irish Water, working in partnership with Clare County Council, is installing 4.7km of new water main to replace old mains in the area which were bursting frequently. This will result in a more secure and reliable water supplies for local residents and businesses as well as a number of Group Water Schemes supplied from the public mains. This works got underway in October and are expected to be completed by the end of June. It may take 2-3 hours for normal water supply to return …

MORE clarity on the future of over 100 council staff, earmarked for transfer to Irish Water is expected in the coming months, according to Chief Executive, Pat Dowling. Nationally, services are currently delivered for Irish Water by local authority water services staff operating under 31 Service Level Agreements (SLAs), which are due to continue until 2025. Doubt was cast on the duration of these agreements however, when the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage published a policy paper in February, aiming to streamline services by transferring the local authority workers to the single water utility before the end of this year. The move has been vigorously resisted by unions and the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is currently involved in talks on the matter. The government has set the end of July as a deadline for securing a deal on the proposed transfers. The issue, which would affect around 3,000 Council employees around the country and 130 in Clare, was …

THERE will be disruption to water supply in a Clare community this week as part of essential improvement work. Irish Water, working in partnership with Clare County Council, is carrying out water main improvement work between Mullagh and Milltown Malbay. In order to progress this essential work, there will be disruption to water supplies in the area on Tuesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, May 25 from 10am to 4pm works will impact water supply primarily to Miltown Malbay village; but will also impact on Spanish Point and surrounding areas. These works will also impact on all group schemes fed from the supply including Rinnen and Glendine schemes. On Thursday, May 27, from 10am to 4pm works will impact water supply to the same areas and schemes. It may take 2-3 hours for normal water supply to return to all customers, but, Irish Water says, it is important to continue to follow the HSE guidance on hand-washing. The work involves the …

IRISH Water has confirmed that it is working with Clare County Council to carry out repairs to two rising main bursts that may result in a wastewater discharge at Kilkee beach. Crews are working to repair the bursts as quickly and as safely as possible in adherence with current HSE and government Covid-19 advice. Tankers are on-site collecting wastewater to minimise any impact and discharges to the stream which leads to the beach. As a result of this incident, Clare County Council, in consultation with the HSE, has placed a bathing prohibition notice at Kilkee beach. It is likely that this notice will remain in place for a number of days pending the repairs of the wastewater and stormwater rising mains and the results of sampling of the bathing waters early next week, at which point the notice may be lifted. Updates will be available from www.beaches.ie. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other relevant stakeholders have been notified and …

CLARE County Council, on the advice of the HSE, has placed a prohibition on swimming in Kilkee due to a malfunction of Irish Water sewage infrastructure. Emergency remedial works are being undertaken by Irish Water. The notice states, “Do not swim until further notice.”