Tag Archives: Irish Water

  Irish Water has incident plans in place and crews on standby to deal with the effects of Hurricane Ophelia. The national water utility recognises that the predicted conditions are likely to result in power outages at critical water and wastewater installations which could compromise service delivery. Heavy rainfall may also increase the risk of flooding. Power outages may impact the operation of its water treatment plants, which would compromise the safety of drinking water. Where risk arises, working with the HSE, Irish Water will impose precautionary Boil Water Notices as necessary. Irish Water is collating information on outages and other issues and will be updating its website constantly during this emergency. The national utility envisage that crews will be unlikely to be able to respond to breakdowns in plants until it is safe to do so and this may lead to a loss of service for a period. However, Irish Water and local authorities crews will respond as quickly …

AS Kilkee approaches its busiest time of the year, a swimming ban has yet again been imposed on the An Taisce Blue Flag beach. This closure is due to sewage entering the water on Wednesday, which followed an electrical fault at the pumping station. Swimming was prohibited for five months from mid-December 2016 to mid-May, following the failure of an operational safety device at the pumping station during a period of heavy rainfall shortly before Christmas, which resulted in sewage entering the water. On Wednesday afternoon, Irish Water issued an apology for the latest fault with the pumping station and said that the swimming ban would be in place for a number of days. “Due to operational electrical issues at Kilkee pump station earlier this morning, this caused the pumps to be out of service for a number of hours. This has led to a discharge of wastewater to the Victoria stream in Kilkee for a period of time. “The …

Irish Water has been granted planning permission for essential upgrade works to the Gort Water Treatment Plant to ensure a consistently high water quality for local homes and businesses. Tender documents are currently being prepared and are expected to be advertised before the summer, with a contractor due to be appointed and work to commence on site before the end of the year. The existing Gort WTP produces up to 1.4MLD per day and the upgrade works are necessary to optimise and strengthen current plant operations to ensure a continuing supply of quality treated water to Gort town. Explaining the benefits of the project, Laura Heneghan, capital programmes lead, said, “The project is needed to strengthen and reinforce existing processes at the plant to ensure consistency in the quality of water supplied to the town of Gort. This project is needed to ensure drinking water is provided in compliance with all of the regulations that ensure that consumers on the …

Irish Water has appointed contractors to carry out repair and upgrade works to the Kilkee wastewater pumping station, with all works on site due to be completed within the next two months, in time for the start of the 2017 bathing period. A ‘Do Not Swim’ notice issued by Clare County Council in December remains in place pending completion of the work at the pumping station. This notice was issued in the interest of public health following an emergency discharge of storm water containing elements of wastewater from Kilkee pumping station into the sea via Kilkee beach. The emergency discharge occurred due to a failure in an operational safety device at the pumping station, combined with heavy rainfall in the area. Since then, Irish Water has commissioned the manufacture and installation of a new surge protection system to replace the one which failed in December. A specialist electrical contractor has been appointed to review all electrical issues at the pumping …

A boil water notice affecting over 300 premises in Turlough, in North Clare has been lifted, making the local water safe to consume. The lifting of the notice, on the advice of the Health Service Executive, follows completion of work at the treatment plant and the subsequent recording of satisfactory monitoring results that indicated that the water is now safe to drink. This notice was put in place by Irish Water and Clare County Council in July 2016 due to the detection of low levels of Cryptosporidium in the Turlough water supply. The works carried out at the treatment plant involved the installation of an ultraviolet (UV) disinfection system on the supply. Customers can now resume normal use of the water supply for drinking, food preparation and brushing teeth. Katherine Walshe, regional manager with Irish Water, commented, “Irish Water and Clare County Council acknowledge the patience, co-operation and assistance of the general public during the period of the Boil Water …

CONCERNS about the impact of the water supply to Moneypoint on residents of West Clare, have been raised at a meeting of Clare County Council. Councillor Ian Lynch proposed that Irish Water and the management of Moneypoint “cease the current arrangements for water supply to the generation station, until a suitable water management plan is put in place that will end the adverse effects the current arrangements are having on entire West Clare communities.” He said people were left without a proper water service for more than 10 days. “People can’t flush their toilets or have a shower. I don’t think that’s acceptable in this day and age.” A report from senior engineer Sean Ward said, “The flow to Moneypoint power station increases when the station’s reservoirs are being filled. Under the present regime, this occurs approximately twice annually and lasts typically for three days at a time, although this duration may be variable. Cooraclare road, including Tullabrack, Breaghva and …

Irish Water has lifted a boil water notice affecting approximately 20 premises in Carron in North Clare following remedial works to remove the threat of cryptosporidium. The lifting of the notice, on the advice of the Health Service Executive, follows completion of a number of remedial works at the treatment plant and the subsequent recording of satisfactory monitoring results. This notice was put in place by Irish Water and Clare County Council in May of this year due to the detection of low levels of cryptosporidium in the Carron water supply. The works carried out at the treatment plant involved the installation of an ultraviolet (UV) disinfection system on the supply. Customers can now resume normal use of the water supply for drinking, food preparation and brushing teeth. Aisling Buckley, Regional Information Specialist with Irish Water, commented: “Irish Water and Clare County Council acknowledge the patience, cooperation and assistance of the general public during the period of the Boil Water …

Irish Water will this week begin the process to take in charge the administration of over 6,600 business customer accounts in County Clare. The change will see responsibility for account administration for existing business customers in Clare move to Irish Water from Clare County Council. Charges for business customers, credit terms and the frequency of billing will remain unchanged while this transition is taking place. Business customers in Clare will now have a single point of customer contact for all queries in relation to water supply, wastewater treatment and business account management. Irish Water will contact all 6,600 business customers and other affected groups directly, once the transition takes place. Bills will be issued from Irish Water directly, as they fall due, from December onwards. Irish Water recently completed a €4.6 million water mains rehabilitation project in Ennis, which has led to significant improvements in network performance, security of supply and efficiency for businesses and homes in the area. In …