Garage continuously flooding for five years

A frustrated resident of Flannan’s Terrace, which is close to the Limerick Road cross in Ennis, is threatening to take legal action against Clare County Council over flooding to his garage, which has been ongoing for several years.

Jimmy Quinn says the council’s own estimate suggests that broken underground pipes are resulting in the leaking of 5,000 to 6,000 gallons of water daily.

He believes the problem emanates from the fact that four nearby rented houses are not connected to the more recently developed water services on the road.

“I’ve been on to councillors and officials but nothing has happened. At this stage, I have to go legal about it. A council employee said that they were losing 5,000 to 6,000 gallons of water per day,” Mr Quinn told The Clare Champion on Wednesday.

Mr Quinn says the leaks have resulted in it being impossible for him to avail of his garage. He says Clare County Council did initially look at the problem but failed to follow up with a solution.

In a statement, Clare County Council said they have done their best to resolve it. “Up to December 31, 2013, prior to Irish Water assuming responsibility for water services in Clare, Clare County Council’s Water Services section endeavoured to resolve the matter raised by Mr Quinn. The leakage relates to an ageing pipe network constructed on private properties upstream of Mr Quinn’s house. The council, up to this point, was unsuccessful in attaining permission from owners of all of the properties concerned to carry out the required remedial works.

“Clare County Council’s Water Services section, acting as agents on behalf of Irish Water, has since January 2014 received approval from Irish Water to commence the Ennis Watermain Rehabilitation Project, of which St Flannan’s Terrace section is included in Phase One of the works scheduled to begin during the fourth quarter of 2014. Ahead of the commencement of works, Irish Water staff will be liasing with private property owners to facilitate a smooth transition from existing water services to the proposed new main. Clare County Council Water Services staff recently successfully completed a similar mains replacement programme at Marian Avenue involving 64 properties,” the council statement added.

Mr Quinn said the problem is there is water coming into his garage. “The council came down and looked at this but wouldn’t take a call from me after that. They did nothing about it,” he said.

The Flannan’s Terrace resident is adamant that if the council had acted they would have saved a considerable amount of money in the long term. “They would have spared so much money by stopping the leak if they had connected up the four houses to the more modern pipes. They would have spared the council so much wasted water over the years,” Mr Quinn reiterated.

“I can’t use my garage. I use it for storage and I have a place in the back for my dogs. I can’t put them in there. It has been ongoing for more than five years,” he pointed out.