Back-up generators urged for Laois waterworks following Storm Éowyn
Mountmellick homes and businesses suffered water loss after electricity outage
The lack of electricity generators in Laois to pump water to homes was a hot topic at the January meeting of Laois County Council following Storm Éowyn.
Cllr Paddy Bracken from Mountmellick Municipal District wants Uisce Éireann (formerly Irish Water) to install back-up generators.
"The council did great recent work on the snow and storm across the whole spectrum, including the Civil Defence and the Fire Service and Irish Water staff in fairness too.
"One issue that came to me, there are no back-up generators in all these pumping stations. The whole town was left without water because there was no electricity. Surely Irish Water must be able to invest in this infrastructure. There's a hospital in Mountmellick, levels were low there too. I wish Irish Water would do this, and have something in place for events like this," he said.
Cllr Barry Walsh from Ballyroan raised similar issues for Group Water Schemes who were also unable to pump water to homes.
"Can we get grants for generators? People had to go into Portlaoise to get water every day. It's not good enough," he said.
Laois County Council Director of Services Simon Walton had no positive news for them.
"The issue of generators is very topical, with outages at water treatment plants and waste water treatment plants.
"Uisce Éireann say they have 8,000 connection points to the electricity grid. It is a clear challenge in the availability of generators. And they wouldn't solve all the lack of supply issues," he said.