Water shortages causing major problems

WATER shortages are creating major obstacles to the development of industry and tourism and the building of houses in large parts of Kerry, it was claimed yesterday.

Planning applications for private houses have been turned down in Killorglin because of inadequate supplies, while B&B owners have also been put in embarrassing situations when their guests complain of not having enough water to take showers, according to local Fianna Fáil councillor and businessman Michael Cahill.

“We’ve been told by council officials if a major industry proposed setting up in Killorglin it would be refused planning because of inadequate water supplies,” he said.

“There are serious difficulties in parts of Killorglin, Milltown and Glenbeigh. Some parts of my own parish haven’t had water for the past week.”

Also, the Mid-Kerry water scheme, provided 30 years ago, is now incapable of meeting huge increases in demand. Drawn from Lough Callee, under Carrantuohill, the scheme serves areas bounded by Killarney, Killorglin, Milltown, Firies and the MacGillycuddy Reeks, which have seen massive growth in housing.

Crisis situations have arisen, with supplies to houses being cut off at night and farmers left without water for cattle.

Supplies have recently been turned off from the Barleymount reservoir, near Killarney, for over six hours at night-time and people are being asked not to waste water.

Senior water services engineer with Kerry County Council, Ger MacNamara, said elements of the scheme were now “operating beyond their design capabilities” but significant improvements had been carried out recently at a cost of more than €150,000.

According to councillors, reservoirs, pumps and pipes are not capable of meeting current demands.

Independent councillor Brendan Cronin said large amounts of water were being wasted because of burst pipes and he called for a full investigation. There were also problems with breakdowns in supplies and power cut-offs.

Independent councillor Michael Healy-Rae claimed that even though massive development had taken place in the area, not an extra drop of water had been provided.

The council is, at present, carrying out a countywide water conservation project to identify leaks and other wastage.

It has already been confirmed that six million gallons from the biggest scheme in Kerry are “unaccounted for” each day.

Meanwhile, the council has agreed to raise a €6.75m loan to install a water metering system for more than 10,000 non-domestic customers.