No water, no warning: Limerick school forced to close due to water outage

A COUNTY Limerick school and local businesses were left scrambling yesterday when they had to abruptly close due to a complete water outage, with no prior warning from Uisce Éireann.

The water supply disruption, which started unexpectedly last Thursday has left Caherconlish NS and parts of the village and several surrounding areas without running water. The students had to be collected around 11am yesterday following the water outage. 

Residents were informed by Uisce Éireann that the outage could last until 6pm this evening, and that there was no guarantee of full restoration until later today at the earliest. Caherconlish NS is expected to reopen this Monday.

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It is understood that some residents and businesses in the village are also without electricity. 

In a statement issued this afternoon, Uisce Éireann confirmed that power issues at the Drumbanna pumping station had led to widespread water outages across several communities, including Caherconlish, Drombanna, Ballyneety, Knockea, Inch St Lawrence, Carrigoreilly, Greenane, Beary's Cross, Kishikirk, Sandylane, Boher, Donoughmore and surrounding areas.

The ESB is currently carrying out planned maintenance works on the network in Limerick which has affected power supply at the pumping station.

"Uisce Éireann is continuing to liaise with the ESB as they work to restore power. The water supply is expected to return at 6pm this evening, March 21. As the network refills and supplies return throughout the evening, customers at the end of the network may experience intermittent disruption or low water pressure for a number of hours," stated Uisce Éireann.

Uisce Éireann continues to provide detailed, real-time, and local information about water service and supply issues on www.water.ie.