Tag Archives: Uisce Éireann

Despite reassurances from Uisce Éireann in recent days that the water supply in North Clare is safe to drink, many hundreds of people are refusing to drink the tap water in the area, complaining of issues with taste and a strong odour. Just outside of Ennistymon, Lickeen Lake supplies the Ballymacravan Water Treatment System which provides drinking water to more than 14,000 people in the North Clare area. In early August of this year, a large algae bloom was recorded on the lake. The emergence of this bloom of blue and green algae coincided with a flood of complaints from the people of North Clare about the taste and smell of their drinking water. While algae blooms occur naturally, they are often associated with instances of pollution, especially when excessive nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus enter a waterway. This can happen when chemical fertiliser or animal slurry is washed from farmland into nearby waterways. North Clare resident and hydrology …

Uisce Éireann has this morning moved to reassure people in North Clare that the Ennistymon water supply is safe to drink, despite a major algae bloom at the reservoir at Lickeen Lake. In a statement to The Clare Champion this morning, the water utility acknowledged recent odour and taste issues in the North Clare area, but said that the water passed “chemical and microbiological” standards and was safe to drink. A large algae bloom has been present at Lickeen Lake since early August of this year. Algae blooms are commonly associated with the runoff of excessive nutrients from farm land, usually after the spreading of slurry or other fertilisers. While not all algae bloom contain bacteria, some freshwater blooms do contain cyanobacteria. It is not yet clear what has caused the algae bloom at Lickeen Lake. In a statement Uisce Éireann said that “chemical and biological results on the Ennistymon Public Water Supply demonstrate compliance with legislative requirements”. The statement …

Uisce Éireann has said it is working to restore water supply as quickly as possible to impacted customers in West Clare following a burst watermain. The areas affected include Miltown Malbay, Spanish Point, Quilty, Mullagh, Coore, Cooraclare, Mullagh and surrounding areas in West Clare. Expert water service crews have been dispatched and are carrying out the required repair works, with the water company saying every effort is being made to complete this work as quickly as possible. The repair works are expected to be completed by 5pm today. A traffic management system will be in place for the duration of the works. Following repair works, it typically takes two to three hours for normal supply to be fully restored to all areas as the water refills the network, especially for those on higher ground or at the end of the network. A spokesperson for Uisce Éireann has assured customers that every effort is being made to carry out repairs as …

UISCE Éireann is working to restore water supply “as quickly as possible” to customers in Ennis following a mechanical failure at Drumcliff Water Treatment Plant.  As a result, customers in Ennis and surrounding areas may experience low pressure and/or interruptions to their water supply. Dedicated water services engineers are on site and repair works are estimated to be completed by 5pm this evening. It may take a number of hours following repairs for normal water supply to return to all customers, especially for those on higher ground or at the end of the network. As per best practice, most homes and businesses will have on-site water storage to provide a backup source of water for sanitation purposes.  Uisce Éireann’s Darragh Conneely commented, “The repairs are being conducted as quickly and as efficiently as possible to minimise disruption and restore the water supply to homes and businesses. We understand the inconvenience an unplanned outage can have on our customers and appreciate their …

The government’s approval of a controversial €6 billion plan to abstract 330 million litres of water per day from Lough Derg to service Dublin, the Midlands and the East of the country will cost every household in the country €3,000, a local opponent has claimed. Emma Kennedy of the River Shannon Protection Alliance is totally opposed to the construction of this major water supply project. Ms Kennedy, who is the author of the “Kennedy Analysis” examining the new controversial pipeline said all the reports produced by Uisce Éireann and Dublin City Council contained a “litany of errors”. “The latest government approval is based on a secret document that was never published without any public scrutiny,” she said. Back in 2018, Ms Kennedy recalled the River Shannon Protection Alliance participated in what was supposed to be an independent review of public documents, which was “halted for no reason” without the publication of any report. “The Cabinet and the Government have been …

CLARE’S ability to attract foreign direct investment will be negatively impacted by the government’s approval of a controversial €6 billion plan to abstract 330 million litres of water per day from Lough Derg for Dublin, the Midlands and the East of the country, a local lobby group has claimed. The Government has received Cabinet approval for one of the largest infrastructure projects in the history of the State, which it predicts would ensure sustainable water supplies for half of the population up to 2050 and beyond. According to a government statement, the delivery of the Water Supply Project Eastern and Midlands Region is critical to sustainable economic growth, enabling housing delivery and attracting investment to support Ireland’s growing population for the next 30 years and beyond. This project, which has now got the green light to proceed to An Bord Pleanála, has a preliminary project cost estimate of €4.58 billion to €5.96 billion, which has been developed in accordance with …

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 …

A West Clare councillor has called on Clare County Council to write to Uisce Éireann requesting an urgent update on their timeline for the delivery of action places as directed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and at the same meeting, another councillor referred to the water company “an absolute disaster”. Councillor Rita McInerney (FF) told the May meeting of the West Clare Municipal District (MD) that in light of the 2023 EPA site visits and reports for the West Clare Regional Water Supplies on water quality and incidents, with actions required by October 27, 2023, the local authority ought to request an urgent update from Uisce Éireann on the timeline for the delivery of these action plans. She has also called on the water company to answer the EPA’s recommendations, and is looking to see information from the water company including THM parameter values, completion data, monitoring details, prevention measures, monitoring of cryptosporidium, and operational information. “Water is one …