Irish Water working to address Ballyhooly supply

IRISH WATER has said it has taken an number of steps in an effort to address the ongoing supply problems for residents in the village of Ballyhooly.

In a statement issued to The Corkman this week the company acknowledged that low pressure and intermittent interruptions to supplies had been experienced to a number of local housing estates “for several years” and that they were working to address the problem.

The statement came after one local residents last week told The Corkman that the situation had gotten considerably worse since the start of May, regularly leaving homes with little or no running water. Josephine O’Driscoll said that while the good weather had increased demand, it was “common knowledge” locally that the supply pipe from the Castletownroche reservoir did not have the capacity to supply the entire village.

“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 further highlight this,” she said.

The point was also made by Irish Water, who said that demand had increased over the past month, serving to “negatively impact on already low water pressure”.

The company said that Cork County Council, on their behalf, had made a number of what it said were “specific interventions” to improve supply in the areas in the short term.

These include opening valves to augment supply from the Castletownroche scheme, implementing night-time restrictions on parts of the network, undertaking leak-detection and repair works, and mobilising ‘crews to undertake ‘First Fix’ repairs on private houses where meters have a continuous night-time flow.

Irish Water said the measures had resulted in an increase in pressure to 23 psi (of 1.5 bar) equivalent to lift water up by approximately 15 metres, “sufficient for kitchen taps to operate normally and attic tanks to fill.”

“It is noted there are a number of three-storey houses which may have storage tanks at a higher elevation than two-storey houses. However, with the water pressure at 1.5 bar, any storage tanks at this level should be filling,” said the statement.

The company said that in addition to these measures, they had also established a temporary water station in a tanker, which is replenished every 48 hours.

The company said that, notwithstanding these short-term measures, it was acknowledged certain “infrastructural improvements would provide a more secure water supply” to the community and local businesses.

It said this was a problem faced by many waste water schemes across the country.

“In relation to the Ballyhooly scheme, initiatives are being examined for the medium and longer term. Irish Water and Cork County Council are examining the feasibility of installing a booster pump on the supply line from the reservoir to the village to improve water pressure over the medium term.”

The company said it was undertaking pressure logging to get a greater understanding of issues within the network and building computer models for analysis.

“This analysis will feed into an assessment of feasible options for the longer term to determine the most efficient capital project so that funding can be sought,” said the company.

“This assessment will take account of projected future growth and the availability or deficiencies of water resources in the surrounding areas,” it added.