Reservoir plan ‘off the wall’ if pipes not fixed

Plans by Irish Water to revitalise a drought-stricken village’s water supply have been described as “completely off the wall”, and dismissed as “throwing water into a hole”.

County councillors reacted with shock and anger over the utility’s “nonsensical plans” to upgrade the extremely poor water supply in the North Cork village of Kildorrery.

County engineer David Keane said Irish Water had sanctioned the building of a new reservoir to service the village, but had not included a badly-needed upgrade of a now fragile supply mains pipe network.

He said the utility company’s plans were not well received by members of the council’s Northern Division at a meeting in Mallow.

The new reservoir will provide increased pressure supply which was badly needed in the village. But, as councillors had pointed out, increasing the pressure on archaic pipes would, most likely, rupture them more frequently.

Cllr Noel McCarthy (Lab) said he was astonished. “This defeats the whole purpose of the works. It’s obvious they should be done in tandem,” stating it “was completely off the wall”.

“This is extremely bad news for all of us [who] have made representations to Irish Water on behalf of the people of Kildorrery. We should write to Irish Water and say this is totally unacceptable,” Cllr McCarthy said.

Cllr Frank O’Flynn was equally angry: “It’s going to be like throwing water into a hole if we’re not fixing problematic pipes.

“We were told by Irish Water before that they would fix the mains network as well. The new reservoir is to provide more water, but that’s no good if the pipes are not done at the same time.”

For a number of years, villagers have suffered from an extremely poor water supply.

Families in Kildorrey are having to travel to relatives nearby to have showers, while businesses have been so severely hit by water shortages they had to cancel certain functions.

Cllr O’Flynn further claimed a local hairdresser had to get water delivered to her in churns.

“The residents and business people are now telling me the pressure is even lower than before. We were told by Irish Water they would fix the situation. It’s not good enough, they’ve left the people of Kildorrery down after many promises,” he said.

The county engineer, meanwhile, told councillors Irish Water had sanctioned the construction of a new reservoir. However, Mr Keane said the company had advised it would not be including the replacement of mains pipes in its current programme of works.

Mr Keane said, therefore, the best villagers could hope for was Irish Water would sanction the mains work in its next programme, of 2016 - 2018.

Cllr Ian Doyle (FF) said it was bitterly disappointing news as locals were putting in a tremendous effort to develop the village.

After a lengthy debate, members agreed the council would write to Irish Water and strongly advise the utility company that its plans for Kildorrery were totally unacceptable.

However, there was better news for another North Cork village which has also suffered from a poor water supply. There had been a number of bad breaks of mains pipes in Newtowshandrum last weekend which had led to the local reservoir emptying completely.

Cllr Doyle said the breakages were part of a continuing problem in the area, while Cllr Tim Collins (Ind) said he had been dealing with water supply complaints in Newtownshandrum from 2004.

Mr Keane, however, said works to rectify the problem would start later this year or, at the latest, early 2016.