5,200 homes still without water in North

Around 5,200 homes in the North remained without water as engineers continued to repair the leaks that crippled the region’s water system.

But while 500 staff battled to restore supply, vandals have been blamed for emptying out almost 5,000 gallons of water from temporary tanks in one of the badly hit areas in Coalisland, Co Tyrone.

People arriving at the Gortgonis Park centre to collect water today found that the valves had been opened overnight. The tanks will be replaced later.

Local Assembly member Francie Molloy condemned those responsible.

“Why anyone would open valves knowing it would deprive their own community of water is beyond me,” said the Sinn Féin representative. “It’s absolutely crazy.”

Away from Coalisland, the areas worst affected by the water failures are Cookstown, Co Tyrone, Hannahstown near Belfast and Burren and Warrenpoint in Co Down.

Arctic weather conditions, followed by a sudden thaw, caused large numbers of burst pipes in buildings and in the mains supply, draining unprecedented amounts of water from the system.

A spokesman for Northern Ireland Water (NIW), the much criticised government-owned company responsible for the service, expressed hope that more houses would reconnected over the weekend.

Around 12,000 properties have also been on an on/off rotating supply of water in a bid to preserve water levels in reservoirs.

“With an improving situation at reservoirs it is hoped that the rotational cuts which have been necessary in recent days will be reduced in number,” added the NIW spokesman.

Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy said an independent probe would examine the causes of the crisis, but insisted that restoring water supplies to homes and businesses was the first priority.

Mr Murphy said yesterday: “On behalf of the Executive and this department, I want to apologise to people for the abysmal response there has been to real problems and distress that people have faced over the last week.

“The reality is that the people who have to take us through this issue are the people who are currently based in NIW. It would be irresponsible to try and change horses mid-stream.

“We have a crisis currently ongoing, we have a lot of people facing very severe hardship and distress.

“The focus and the priority was to deal with that issue and that means that we need to shore up, to encourage, to challenge the people who are tasked with delivering that service to do it properly.”

He said lessons would be learned to ensure there was no repeat of the crisis during the rest of winter.

But Mr Murphy said the impending investigation would identify where blame lay for the crisis, adding: “And people will be held accountable.”

NIW’s interim chairman Padraic White emerged from a three-hour board meeting yesterday and promised that communication with the public would be greatly improved.

“We expect to see a gradual improvement over the coming days,” he said.

He added that NIW was “acutely aware” of the difficulties caused.

“People have encountered huge hardship,” he said. “The lack of communication caused huge anxiety. We are hugely conscious of that.

“Despite the fact that there was an emergency plan in place, which had been developed over the years, it proved inadequate, seriously inadequate, when faced with the unprecedented loss of water.

“The board fully recognises that it is unacceptable. That is fully recognised.”

Louth County Council has agreed to supply water from its treatment plant in Dundalk to its neighbouring local authority across the border in Newry and Mourne.

Initially, 10 tanker-loads of water (equivalent to 100 cubic metres) will be transported by NIW from Dundalk each day with the emergency supply arrangement subject to continual review.

Des Foley, director of services, Louth County Council, said: “We currently have some spare capacity at our treatment plant in Dundalk and – having first prioritised the restoration of supply to locations within Louth – are now in a position to assist our colleagues at Newry & Mourne District Council in accessing a reliable and safe supply of water for homes and businesses in their area.

“This is a practical example of the type of cooperation that is ongoing between our local authorities and reflects the unprecedented challenges currently being faced around water supply.”