Concern over asbestos piping in Limerick estates

IRISH Water has been urged to replace the water supply lines in a northside community.

Residents in Brookville Avenue, Clareview, were left without water last week, with the supply reconnected to an old asbestos cement pipe as an interim measure.

However, Sinn Fein’s northside councillor Sharon Benson has called for a more permanent solution from the State utility, saying that connecting to a pipe like this is “taking us back to the last century” and “alarming to residents.”

For its part, an Irish Water spokesperson said asbestos cement pipes are widely used, and according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there is no evidence of that asbestos in drinking water poses a risk to health.

But Cllr Benson said the need to replace the pipe has been an ongoing issue for many years.

“I have been informed that the council has been urging Irish Water to replace this supply for the past four years. Continuous ad hoc repairs to this line are simply not acceptable, it needs to be replaced,” she said.

She has been in contact with Irish Water.

In response to a query from the Limerick Leader, the utility confirmed the outage, which resulted from a burst water main.

“Crews from Irish Water and Limerick City and County Council responded immediately to carry out repairs and reroute water in the network so that the water supply was restored for the majority of customers within two hours. We regret any inconvenience caused by this unplanned outage,” Irish Water added.

The spokesperson pointed out only 10% of Irish water mains are made from asbestos cement.

“Irish Water is focussed on improving service and reducing leaks across Ireland by fixing or replacing old, damaged water pipes,” they added.