Letters to the Editor: Are our water networks competent?

A tidal turbine in the Orkneys: One letter writer believes harnessing tidal power here would be a great project for young engineers.

Since August 6, I turn on the tap each morning in trepidation, as I wait to see what colour the water coming from the tap will be that day. Today is the 43rd day and it looks like being one of the worst ones yet.

Teeth are washed using bottled water. Dishes are washed when the brown tap water fades to yellow for a while. With luck it may clear later in the day and a shower may be possible or some clothes may make it to the washing machine before the water goes brown again.

I am weary from contacting Irish Water but cannot get beyond the call centre staff and they assure me the matter is still under investigation.

I have had visits from Cork City Council officials who have taken samples of the water and have, to be fair, made several efforts to locate the source of the problem. Suggested causes have ranged from a chemical imbalance to a valve in the area being closed when it should have been left open. Since the issue seems to be affecting just 12 houses on this hill, you would imagine that it should be easily traceable.

We in the Sunday’s Well area have undergone weeks of traffic disruption whilst works were being carried out to “upgrade the system”. Those works began last year and were continued in June and again in the past few weeks. Traffic “management” and communication during these works left a lot to be desired.

There were no problems with the water here before the “upgrade” so one has to question whether Irish Water has the expertise to deal with our water network. From what I’ve learned from their own website there would seem to be replicas of our problem all over the country — do not consume and boil water notices are in place from Whiddy Island to Galway and many places in between.

Maybe it’s time to question the decision to privatise our water networks, removing them from the local authority staff who had years of experience dealing with them. Like many other private contracts for services no one seems to be accountable.

Meanwhile I am off with my 5l containers to source some useable water from an obliging friend who has the benefit of First World public services.

Cathleen Bowen

Buckston Hill

Sunday’s Well

Cork

Gratitude deserved

The answer to those who object to military trappings in the Royal Funeral lies in us all taking seriously both:

(A) The resounding words of the Queen herself on Wednesday, May 18, 2011 in Dublin Castle — “Being able to bow to the past, but not to be bound by it”;

(B) That she, as a teenager, volunteered as a junior officer 230,873 in the 190,000-strong ATS (women’s army corps) in 1945; those almost 5m in UK forces included both her future husband Philip, and his commander, the Dublin-born Royal Navy Chief Admiral Andrew Cunningham from Rathmines, as well as up to 166,500 volunteers from our island, 8,673 of whom lost their lives, with just over half from the south, including in the Parachute Regiment Dubliner Paddy Cardiff, ICTU president and Workers Union of Ireland general secretary.

They, along with the Resistance across Nazi-occupied Europe (over 2.5m overall), including Sam Beckett in France, the 34.5m in the Red Army, and 16m in US Forces, rescued humanity from Nazi brutality and tyranny.

ALL deserve our gratitude and admiration, including Elizabeth and her husband, no less than the Dubliners Paddy Cardiff and Sam Beckett.

Tom Carew

Ranelagh

Dublin

Wind and tidal power not equal

Annemarie Cotton (September 17) conflates tides and wind. They are very different in that tides are reliable and predictable whereas wind is not. Wind by its very nature cannot provide a steady reliable generation of electric power; you must have a back-up
system constantly on standby and this is not technically feasible or affordable. Even our Government understands this and have invested in an undersea 700MW interconnector to import nuclear-generated electricity from France.

The harnessing of tidal power on the other hand would be a great project for some of our young engineers.

Patrick Davis

Clare Village

Dublin

Presidential politics

Whether Bertie Ahern goes back into Fianna Fáil or not is entirely their business, however, his return may be too big an issue for Fine Gael, if they’re still in coalition?

Putting him in the park will have opposition within Fine Gael apart from coalition.

The Sinn Féin candidate may well be Gerry Adams and he will have the vote of every begrudger in the country?

I would prefer if neither of these people were even considered.

Whoever ends up there will have to be told to remain quiet on issues for the Government of the day?

Should the position of President of Ireland be held by a politically void person?

Donal Jackson

Athlone

We are becoming a two-tier society

It is incredulous that the Government regards the proposal to increase the old age pension by €15 per week as being “bit of a stretch”. Yet this same Government has no qualms in paying ministers, TDs, and civil servants obscene salaries, pension increases, golden handshakes, and various other perks.

We are truly becoming a deeply two-tier society of haves and have-nots.

Unfortunately, we will arrive at a critical mass scenario whereby the majority of Irish people can no longer endure the penury that they are/may be subjected to because of spiralling living costs with energy costs taking pole position.

The future does not bode well for this country.

Patrick O’Brien

Kerry Pike

Co Cork

Worldwide political unity is needed

I am highly impressed by the similarity in gentlemanly behavior of the Ukrainian troops to their British counterparts during their respective periods of war.

Unlike their enemy, they do not resort to raping, torturing, killing, or plundering the civilian population.

However, I do wish, for the sake of all the suffering inhabitants of our planet, that the leaders of every country in the world would unite and join forces and use their collective powers of persuasion to bring both warring leaders to their senses and convince them that the only exit from this situation — that is wrecking the economies of so many countries — is to sit around a table and engage in constructive dialogue.

Would it be a step too far to expect our Taoiseach and Tánaiste to act jointly and place neutral Ireland on the world stage by spearheading this form of non-combative action?

Patrick Murray

Mulvey Park

Dundrum

Mass extinction needs attention

John Gibbons’ un-picking of five of the most common climate myths (“ Let’s unpick the climate myths to which too many of us still cling”, September 17), is a brilliant read and addresses what the lazy or selfish refuse to accept. Though one very serious issue wasn’t mentioned. That being: Mass species extinction. The number of species that have been completely eradicated at the hands of mankind is heartbreaking. And grotesque.

Since the late 1600s due to hunting, urban development, or gluttony and improper waste, the number of extinct or endangered animals is in the 100s. And the number of plants and micro ecosystems is astronomical.

Sherry Wynn

Seatac

Washington State

USA