Ballyhooly residents ‘broken down’ by water supply woes

WHILE the threat of water shortages may be looming over the country as the hot weather continues to show no sign of abating, that is a problem that residents of Ballyhooly are already all too familiar with.

In fact, according to one local resident, estates in the village have had to put up with low pressure in their homes for more than a decade.

Josephine O’Driscoll told The Corkman that the problem has gotten considerably worse since the start of May and that many houses are regularly left little or no running water in their taps.

“At this stage people are sick of it, they are broken down,” said Josephine.

In a statement Irish Water confirmed there was “reduced water pressure and intermittent interruptions” in parts of the village, and they were monitoring supply levels.

To address this they have put a water tanker in place at the entrance to the Lios Áird estate, which is replaced and replenished every 48-hours.

The company said that while no significant breaks have been found in the supply system, night-time restrictions had helped regain some levels in the reservoir.

“However, higher than normal demand due to weather conditions and limitations of the existing water supply network are the contributing factors to the low pressure being experienced at connections in Ballyhooly,” read the statement.

“Pressure on the network is monitored daily, and while water supply is at kitchen taps, the pressure is not always sufficient to fill attic tanks. Every effort is being made to manage the supply in the short term, and investigations continue to inform potential alternative infrastructure arrangements.”

However, Josephine said that while the good weather had increased demand, it was “common knowledge” locally that the pipe supplying water from the Castletownroche reservoir did not have the capacity to supply the entire village with water.

“It’s like trying to fill a bucket with a jam jar, while the water you have already put in is being taken out. While we welcome the fact that Irish Water has put a tanker in place, that is only a sticking plaster. The real problem is that the supply system has not kept pace with the growth of the village. The good weather we are having has served to highlight this,” she said.

Josephine said the situation had got to the point where filling a bath will mean a house could be left with no water at all for the following two days. She said water supply to the local national school and the community centre had also been impacted.

“Meanwhile, Irish Water seems to think that a short term measure will address the problem. It’s all too easy for them to blame this just on the weather, but the issue of low water pressure is something that we residents have been raising for the past 11-years,” said Josephine.

Frustration at what they see is the lack of action being taken to tackle the problem has led to locals organising a public meeting at the local community centre next Monday at 8pm to discuss the ongoing problems.

Public representatives and Irish Water officials have been invited to attend the meeting.

“In fairness people like Sean Sherlock, Deirdre O’Brien and Frank O’Flynn have been very helpful, but there is only so much they can do. Our fear is that this will only get worse as the village expands and there are more demands on the already inadequate supply pipe,” said Josephine. “We hope that the meeting will help put more pressure on Irish Water to resolve this issue properly once and for all,” she said.