There has been further disruption to water services in West Clare with locals complaining water outage is now a common occurrence and happens every three to four weeks.
On Tuesday, Uisce Éireann said it had identified a burst in a watermain in the Doonbeg area saying it was working with Clare County Council to restore water “as quickly as possible” to approximately 40 affected properties. The areas affected in west Clare were Glascloune, Baltard, Bealaha, Farrihy, Doonmore, Doonbeg, Kilrush and some surrounding areas. Whilst the leak was fixed the following day (Wednesday), there was an initial problem with gaining access to the land due to soft ground and the engineers had to seek out another point thus delaying repairs.
Doonbeg councillor and local election candidate, Rita McInerney (FF) described the overall situation as “very frustrating” saying a complete upgrade is needed in the area. She confirmed they have outages every three to four weeks saying she constantly receives calls from her constituents about the situation and as a result has been working on the issue since she first started as a councillor in January. The councillor who runs a convenience store in the village had to install a water holding tank when she moved to her new shop premises due to the unreliability and inconsistency of the water supply in Doonbeg. When she contacted Uisce Éireann for an explanation as to the ongoing high frequency of water main bursts, they acknowledged the frustration of the community in Doonbeg saying:
“A significant volume of mains rehabilitation has been undertaken to replace the failing asbestos mains, with recent works underway completed through the village centre in conjunction with scheduled roadworks.
“Further substantial works are programmed along the N67 to the west of Doonbeg and the new regional contractor will be commencing design work shortly. The regional contractor (working on behalf of Uisce Éireann) is currently proceeding with designs for further sections of watermains rehab out towards the GAA field. There is currently no timeline available for delivery of this section,” a spokesperson for the water company said.
Councillor McInerney added she requested a timeline for the works they reference but to date has received no confirmation from the water company.
In response to the most recent burst water main occurrence, Uisce Éireann confirmed dedicated water service crews were mobilised and said repairs were expected to be completed by Wednesday, June 5. They said typically, it takes two to three hours after this to restore normal supply to all customers affected by an unplanned outage.
The water company said their crews have successfully completed repairs of the burst water main. A spokesperson for Uisce Éireann said:
“Following reports of a supply disruption, dedicated crews were immediately deployed and worked hard to restore normal water supply to impacted customers as quickly as possible. Repairs have successfully been completed and water supply has returned to the majority of customers at Glascoune, Baltard, Bealaha, Farrihy, Doonmore, Doonbeg, Kilrush and surrounding areas in County Clare. It may take until later this evening before normal water pressure is fully returned to all customers, especially for those on higher ground or at the end of the network”.
Darragh Conneely, Water Operations Lead at Uisce Éireann, added: “On behalf of Uisce Éireann, I’d like to thank customers who were impacted by his unplanned outage for their patience, co-operation, and assistance while we worked to complete the repairs as quickly as possible and regret any inconvenience caused”.
Uisce Éireann said that vulnerable customers who register with them receive direct communications for planned and unplanned outages lasting more than four hours. They also said their customer care team is available by phone to help 24/7 on 1800 278 278 and customers can contact them on the X platform or view further updates on the Uisce Éireann website.
Sharon Dolan D’Arcy covers West Clare news. After completing a masters in journalism at University of Galway, Sharon worked as a court reporter at the Sligo Weekender. She was also editor of the Athenry News and Views.