People ringing 'out of pure desperation' because of water problems in Tipperary's largest town

Uisce Éireann representatives Colin Cunningham and John Fogarty have been invited to attend the March meeting of Clonmel Borough District to discuss the ongoing and “serious” issues affecting the town’s water supply.

The invitation was issued by Cllr Michael Murphy at the Borough District’s February meeting.

“It’s so serious, we have taken one step forward and two steps back in the last number of months,” he stated.

Cllr Murphy said there had been four outages in the previous 72 hours for those homes and businesses served by the Monroe supply because of issues at the pumping station.

It seemed that the installation of low pressure valves at different locations around Clonmel meant that it wasn’t a case of no water but little or no pressure.

Cllr Murphy suspected that the installation of these pressure-reducing valves might have something to do with the age of the network, and the danger of bursts to old pipes caused by high pressure.

He said that this low pressure particularly affected the western side of the town, including the Ballingarrane area and surrounding estates including Gort na Managh, Cherrymount and Ashgrove. There were also significant pressure issues at Heywood Road and Elm Park.

He said his thoughts were with vulnerable customers and people with medical needs in those areas.

According to Cllr Murphy, the biggest challenge facing Clonmel is the lack of investment in our water supply infrastructure.

District Mayor Richie Molloy said that problems with the supply, including outages and low pressure, was becoming the number one item they were hearing about, and it was their duty as councillors to highlight these. He said it was very difficult for people to get answers when this occurred at the weekend, and when they couldn’t flush toilets or take showers.

Cllr Pat English suggested that Clonmel Borough District would request Uisce Éireann to upgrade the existing storage plants and water supply for the existing treatment plants at Poulavanogue and Glenary, which had both served the town very well for many years.

The proposed closure of the Poulavanogue plant was opposed by the members of the Clonmel Business Network and the people of the town.

Cllr English said that the plant at Monroe was breaking down on a regular basis and the water from that source had a very high lime content. There had been cases of outages and low pressure around Clonmel again the previous weekend.

Cllr Siobhán Ambrose said that people were ringing councillors “out of pure desperation” because the pressure was so low and they couldn’t have showers or cook meals.

The problems seemed to affect the same areas all the time, including Gort na Managh, Cherrymount, Baron Park, Heywood Heights, Honeyview Estate, Elm Park and Bianconi Drive.

There seemed to be definite problems that weren’t being addressed, and she was also critical of the lack of communication from Uisce Éireann.