CORK:CORK CITY manager Joe Gavin has expressed satisfaction with the progress being made in carrying out repair work to the city's main pumping station but has cautioned that it will still be next weekend at the earliest before water supplies are restored to 18,000 homes.
Mr Gavin said repair work had got under way on the Lee Road pumping station but that it would take several days before it could be brought back on line to service 16,000 homes on the city’s north side and a further 2,000 on the south side.
Cork city council director of service for environment Gerry O’Beirne said the last of the flood waters which had submerged the station were pumped clear yesterday and work had begun on dismantling the machinery and removing it to be cleaned.
Last May, the Lee Road pumping station was the subject of a warning by the EPA that it was “at risk of failing unless it was urgently upgraded”, with EPA inspector Darragh Page expressing concerns about “the age and capacity of the plant”.
However, Mr O’Beirne said the current problem experienced at the Lee Road station was unrelated to its age or capacity but was due to the fact that it had been submerged under several feet of flood water from the river Lee.
Meanwhile, Mr Gavin confirmed that the city council had now established 15 water-supply points through both tankers and hydrant standpipes on both sides of the city to supply drinking water.
Mr Gavin also pointed out that water for sanitary purposes was being supplied from staffed plastic tanks at 40 locations on the north side of the city. Further locations will be added today.
The LE Orla is moored at Custom House Quay to provide a control centre for Naval Service engineers who brought in water pumps to move water for sanitation from road tankers to header tanks at the Mercy University Hospital and Shanakiel Hospital.
The emergency department at the Mercy, which was forced to close on Friday when the Lee burst through the quay wall at Grenville Place and flooded the building, reopened yesterday.