Uisce Éireann begins fresh round of pipe flushing in Cork City

 The flushing is part of the utility’s ongoing efforts to improve water quality being supplied to homes and business across the city, which began last year after months of sustained reports about discoloured and dirty brown water. Picture: David Creedon

Uisce Éireann has begun another round of targeted pipe flushing in Cork City, as a four-week hosepipe ban kicks in across the county.

The flushing is part of the utility’s ongoing efforts to improve water quality being supplied to homes and business across the city, which began last year after months of sustained reports about discoloured and dirty brown water.

It carried out targeted flushing in seven different district metering areas last year, comprising thousands of homes and businesses.

On Monday, workers returned to the Mayfield and Silversprings areas to complete flushing the pipes in those areas.

The work, which is being done at night-time, is expected to take about four nights to complete, and will target the pipes supplying water to the thousands of homes and businesses in following areas of Mayfield:

• Lotamore Lawn;
• Lotamore Avenue;
• Lotamore Drive;
• Lotamore Grove;
• Lotamore Park;
• Liosard;
• Dunard;
• Newton Avenue;
• Newton Place;
• Newton Green;
• and Newton Close.

The flushing operations will then move to clear the pipes in the following areas of Silversprings, including:

• Silversprings Lawn;
• Silversprings Court;
• Southridge;
• Ashmount;
• Ashmount Mews;
• Glenmont.

The work is being done overnight, during off peak usage hours, typically starting after 10pm and finishing in the early hours of the morning to minimise disruption to the community.

But doing the work at night also gives the network time to return to normal before the morning demand starts, reducing the potential for discoloured water at customers’ taps.

James Goulding, water operations lead for Uisce Éireann, thanked people for their patience.

“These works remain a top priority for Uisce Éireann and are an integral part of the improvement works underway to address reports of discolouration,” he said.

“We would like to thank our customers for their continued patience while our crews work through the programme plan.” 

Signage will be put in place as the water improvement works progress through the area, and customers have been advised to check the supply and services section of the Uisce Eireann website on www.water.ie for updates.

The work starts as a hosepipe ban came into effect this weekend across Cork county until September 16.

The water conservation order only applies to customers on public water supply schemes in Cork county, and does not apply to Cork city.

The Lee Road water treatment plant, which supplies treated and clean water to the city, gets its intake of source water from the River Lee, and if required, a back-up water supply from Inniscarra.

Uisce Eireann said there is a sufficient and resilient supply available to meet customers’ demands in Cork city.

As the latest round of flushing gets underway, the utility said water can be discoloured due to sediment, including naturally occurring metals such as manganese and iron, becoming dislodged from old cast iron pipes or works on the water network in your area.

In the event of discolouration, it says people should run the cold tap in their kitchen for up to 20 minutes, and that will usually restore the water to a clear colour.

It insists that the water is safe to drink once running clear, but says if the problem persists, to contact them directly on 1800-278-278 or visit their new online reporting form on the Uisce Éireann website.