Council may take water wastage action

CLARE County Council may take action in relation to water wastage if the current dry spell continues.

Last week, the local authority asked individuals and businesses to use water sparingly and avoid certain water-intensive activities. It advised against washing cars and watering lawns.
“We have some powers in relation to restricting or banning certain uses of water. We may have to go down this route. Water restrictions are currently in place in North Clare and the council is considering taking action in relation to wastage across the county,” Sean Ward, Clare County Council senior engineer, water services, told The Clare Champion.
“The first step will be to communicate with these businesses but we may have to invoke our legal powers,” Mr Ward continued.
On Monday, the council restricted the water supply to Ennistymon, Lahinch, Liscannor, Doolin, Lisdoonvarna, Kilfenora and Fanore, shutting off the supply from midnight to 7am each day. On Wednesday night, water was shut off in a number of areas in Ennis in an effort to conserve water.
“We are looking at Ennis very carefully. We imposed restrictions in parts of the town on Wednesday because of high demand. There is no problem with the plant but we want to relieve demand on the source,” Mr Ward stated, adding that the council plan to review the situation in the county town on Thursday.
“Other supplies are not showing any significant problems at the moment. Castle Lake serving Shannon and Sixmilebridge; Doolough Lake supplying most of West Clare; Gortglass Lake in Kildysart and the Limerick City supply in South-East Clare are all holding up well. There are no immediate concerns there,” Mr Ward confirmed, with the proviso that “if the dry period continues for a long period, we may have to consider further restrictions”.
“Lack of rainfall is the big problem. From December 2009 to May 2010, rainfall has been 70 to 75% of average, in other words it is down 25 to 30%. Because of that we are watching our sources, both lakes and ground water and obviously some are experiencing more demand than others,” he commented.
“The water treatment plant in Ennistymon has not been able to meet the increased demands of the system but this is not related to the plant but rather the channels from the source. The source for North Clare is Lickeen Lake and the amount that can flow from the lake to the plant is not strong enough. We could try pumping it but we want to keep an eye on the level of the lake so there is a balancing act to be done there,” Mr Ward stated.
These restrictions represent a further water woe for people in North Clare where last week, boil water notices were placed on supplies in the Ballyvaughan area, including Muckinish Group Water Scheme, Gleninagh Group Water Scheme and Newtown Group Water Scheme.
This notice is not due to be lifted until the HSE is satisfied that the water source is free of contamination.