Irish Water has ‘no excuses’ for South Inishowen water
‘Step in right direction, but no guarantees’ warns Cllr
MORE THAN two thousand homes and businesses were without water in Inishowen this year as a result of continued water bursts on the main line from the Eddie Fullerton Dam.
From January to August there were four major water interruptions causing more than two thousand properties in South Inishowen to be without water for a lengthy period. However, now, Irish Water have revealed that they are carrying out an ‘Asset Need Brief’ regarding the performance on the line before January 2017.
Previously the water entity had stated that the water line was not high enough on their agenda but the latest move to investigate the problem has been described as ‘a step in the right direction’.
Burnfoot councillor Jack Murray said surely this should highlight how much need there is in the South Inishowen area to have the line completely replaced. He said there is no other area in the county that experiences regular outages for such a large area.
“This has already affected more than 2,000 properties this year,” said Cllr. Murray.
“This is homes, doctors surgeries, nursing homes, bars, restaurants and hotels being without water for hours every couple of months.
“There is one family where a child needs to be bathed regularly due to a rare skin condition and when the water goes off this is a serious traumatic experience for the child and family,” continued Cllr. Murray.
“It can’t go on – the line needs to be upgraded and it needs to be prioritised by Irish Water. They released this data so they know the extent of people affected – there can be no excuses now.”
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