Waterford or Westmeath? Disruptions affecting water access in the Déise
Residents have reported low water pressure in their homes.
Residents in County Waterford were left without water for almost a week due to severe outages. At the Dungarvan-Lismore Council meeting, representatives spoke about the myriad issues they are having with Uisce Éireann.
Councillor Thomas Phelan spoke about the number of outages reported by locals: "I want to highlight a serious issue that took place regarding water disruptions not just in Dungarvan but in the surrounding areas. It came to a head when the water supply in Dungarvan South and town centre was impacted because of massive bursts to the water mains.
"It was resolved relatively quickly but prior to that some places had been without water for six days in a row, people at the far end of the network from the supply here locally. When the water is being turned off for restriction one night and coming back on in the morning, some people weren't getting it back until the evening time."
The Labour Councillor said that people were left unable to put on their washing machine, use their bathroom or take a shower due to low pressure. He requested contacting Uisce Éireann for an explanation but noted: "I can count about 30 different texts and updates, many of which were confusing. One of them said the issue was in Co. Westmeath. I know they're hard pressed on the ground and there's a lot of lads who work for them going back to the council and they're using a lot of institutional knowledge and memory. I think it's unfortunate that people are unhappy over the way they are being treated by Irish Water."
Councillor Kate O'Mahoney (Sinn Féin) spoke about water outages in Dungarvan, An Rínn and Shankill. She said: "There's a lack of timely communication with the public. I was working Friday and a business owner contacted me at about half ten that due to a burst water mains their business had to close. But it was only until half twelve that the general text was sent out to everyone and that's really, really frustrating."
