Dublin City Council unable to say in advance where water will be shut off

DUBLIN CITY Council is unable to give advance notice of where water shut-offs will occur on a daily basis, such is the number of leaks occurring. The council said while a pattern of shut-offs and tankers being deployed on higher ground due to the low pressure was now evident, it did not represent the entirety of the problem.

Unlike normal situations, where water mains were scheduled to be repaired or replaced, the council was not in a position to place advance notices in the newspapers and a spokesman said the council website would continue to display details of current locations of water tankers.

The demand for water on an ongoing basis was 96 per cent of the capacity of the city’s four water treatment plants, a figure which represented the distribution of some 540 million litres of water per day, he said. During the recent freeze, demand for water in the capital exceeded 170 million litres per day, which represented more than the treatment plants could process.

As the ability to process and store treated water is at or less than 4 per cent of capacity per day, the council has said it could take up to four months to restore reservoirs.

However, the council said it expects most leaks to be fixed in the coming weeks and would gradually increase water pressure over this timescale, and as a result supplies would gradually be restored to higher ground.

In an update posted on the council website at 5pm yesterday the council said it had tankers at five locations in Clonshaugh, and at least two tankers each in Finglas, Griffith Avenue, Killester and Artane. Tankers were available in at least one location in Raheny, Kilmore, Poppintree, Smithfield and Santry. On the southside, the council had water tankers at Harold’s Cross, Ballsbridge and Sandymount.

Wicklow County Council said water supply would be cut off today in Newtownmountkennedy, Newcastle, Kilpedder, Kilmacanogue, Fassaroe and Delgany, due to a burst water main.

Supplies have been restored to most areas across the country, although many local authorities said it would be necessary to switch off supplies overnight for some weeks yet. Work was also continuing on the clean-up following floods. In Cork, President Mary McAleese will officially reopen the Glucksman Gallery on Friday, with the launch of the exhibition Thingamajig. The occasion will also mark the gallery’s fifth birthday. The gallery suffered extensive flood damage to its basement last November and has since been closed to the public.

In Co Kerry, extensive remedial work has been carried out on the bridge over the Laune in Killorglin, but Councillor Paul O’Donoghue said three minor bridges had collapsed “in a period of weeks” while a major bridge,over the river Fertha in Cahersiveen, was in jeopardy.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael’s road safety spokesman Shane McEntee has called for the Government to set up a fund to repair roads damaged by freezing conditions.