806 leaks fixed under new system
OVER 800 leaks have been addressed by Irish Water so far this year, according to figures released by the utility provider.
Irish Water has repaired 232 public water network leaks in Co Wicklow while a further 574 leaks have been repaired at properties under the ‘First Fix Free’ scheme.
Works are continuing around the county on the public network.
Repairs have been carried out on three leaks reported in Bray at Seapoint Court, Colahan Terrace and Main Street, Vevay, while five further leaks were repaired in Arklow and investigations have been undertaken on leaks in Greystones.
In relation to Greystones, Irish Water has submitted an application for a road opening licence to carry out the repair at Blacklion.
Leakage repairs on the public network are prioritised to address the most critical issues, ensuring a cost effective approach is undertaken to repair leaks in the network.
Irish Water said that it is also is progressing with a contract to repair a number of non-priority leaks that have been identified on the public network. It is expected that the programme will commence shortly.
The ‘First Fix Free’ encourages householders to contact Irish Water to request a free leak investigation and, if necessary, avail of a free fix on a leak within their property boundary that has occurred outside of their home.
The 574 customer leaks repaired in Co Wicklow this year is estimated to be saving 1.18 million litres of water per day.
Lost water due to leakage is estimated at 47 per cent nationally based on figures from the national metering programme, and in Wicklow the figure is 37 per cent across on 2015 figures.
Irish Water says that the work carried out to date in tandem with the ‘First Fix’ scheme is helping to reduce leakage in Wicklow below the national average. IT’S not quite Halloween yet, but Bray lady Laura Whitmore was given a terrible scare on Sunday night when she found herself in her first ever dance-off on Strictly Come Dancing.
The previous evening the TV presenter and her dance partner Giovanni Pernice took to the dancefloor with gusto to peform a spicy Salsa to ‘Rhythm of the Night’ from Moulin Rouge! as part of movie week.
Yet again, there were positive comments from the judges, with Bruno Tonioli saying ‘ this showgirl has vava-voom comint out of every pore’. However, they also picked up on a few imperfect moments, with Craig Revel Horwood noting that she put ‘a bit too much of everything into it and lost control’ at times and head judge Len Goodman saying that elements of finesse were ‘ lacking’ at times.
However, with a score of 30 (including a nine from Bruno), the temporarily red-headed Laura looked safe and told co-host Claudia Winkleman that it meant so much to her that Len said she was a ‘ terrific dancer’.
On Sunday night, after the dreaded red light lit up above Laura’s head, she said she was going to ‘go out and give it everything’.
‘If its going to be my last time, I’d better make it as good as possible,’ she said before going head-to-head with Eastenders star Tameka Empson and her partner Gorka Marquez.
While believing neither deserved to be in the bottom two, in the end, three of the four judges favoured the Bray native, meaning she’ll be back in week four to dance again.