Irish Water first fix scheme finds nearly 76,000 leaks

More than 1,500 householders across Cork have benefitted from Irish Water’s ‘first fix’ leak repair scheme.

While 965 people had to pay for repairs themselves because the leak was at their home, 595 had leaks fixed for free because they were found in the pipes leading to the house.

The Irish Water-completed repairs showed that it resulted in a saving of 4.1m litres of water a day, compared to those completed by customers which saved 1.7m litres.

The scheme, launched last year, identified some 75,974 properties throughout the country which had leaks — 9,434 were found in Cork.

Irish Water has been able to standardise ways of calculating leaks using around 850,000 connections.

The national metering programme estimates that 48% of drinking water is being lost in Cork county and 52% in Cork City.

In May 2014, the Government announced funding of €51m for a scheme to address water leakage on pipework within a customer’s property boundary under a ‘first fix’ scheme.

Irish Water’s water conservation strategy specialist, Kate Gannon, said the 9,434 households in Cork with a potential leak on their property would have been notified by letter.

“Leakage of water from the network is a serious problem on a national scale, and that is reflected here in Cork. Lost water is estimated at 47% nationally,” said Ms Gannon.

“I am urging any customers who have received a letter, or who may be aware of a leak within their property boundary outside of their home to get in touch with Irish Water.”

Ms Gannon said that almost 30,000 customers have already contacted Irish Water to avail of a free leak investigation, including 3,811 in Cork.