Water Shortages

marco murphy

From Meath Chronicle

Paul Murphy

THE problem of water shortages and poor pressure throughout Meath was thrown into sharp relief this week amid warnings that a possible crisis is looming, despite the current rainfall.

Water has become the hot topic is several areas of Meath as residents became aware of projected shortages despite the rainfall of the past few days. In the Kells-Oldcastle system, a “scandalous” 70 per cent of water is being wasted, some of it possibly through fractures in pipes but much of it through leakages in homes, Colr Michael Lynch said.

He said that unless people got the conservation message, both Kells and Oldcastle would be in serious trouble. The current rainfall was welcome, he added, but was not adequate for the growing water demands. What was needed was “weeks of rainfall.”

Kells Area Manager Brendan McGrath said the council was confident water conservation measures it had put in place would deliver.

Meanwhile, Meath East Fine Gael TD Shane McEntee has called on the council to invest in a water tanker to respond to emergencies “that have become a regular occurrence across the county.”

He wants the council to buy a 3,000-5,000 litre capacity tanker for emergencies. “A purpose-built tanker with the appropriate pump systems could respond quickly in situations such as we have seen in Stamullen, Slane, Dunshaughlin, and currently in Beauparc, Yellow Furze and Duleek,” he said.

He warned that Meath would probably suffer more water shortages over the coming months in the event of a hot and rain-free summer, and added that the council was going to have to show a greater sense of urgency in responding to ongoing crises.

Poor pressure in the Beauparc, Yellow Furze and Knockcommon area over many years has led to calls for urgent action to rectify the problem. Slane Electoral Area councillors last week called for urgent action to deal with the water problems there. They were told by a council engineer that the possibility of installing a booster pump was being considered.

There have also been bitter recriminations over the six-day water outage in Stamullen two weeks ago. Council officials strongly defended their actions in trying to rectify a leak in the system which lasted for virtually a full week.

http://www.unison.ie/meath_chronicle/stories.php3?ca=34&si=1589736&issue_id=13863

sofireland

Our county council is a bleeding Joke!