Still no water, as misery continues for thousands of people in Tipperary

Thousands of people in Clonmel, many of whom have been without water since Saturday, won't have their supply restored until Wednesday morning.

In a statement, Uisce Éireann says it "acknowledges the impact of water outages in parts of Clonmel supplied by the Glenary Water Treatment Plant".

The areas affected include Elm Park, Heywood Road, Glenconnor, Cherrymount, Ballingranne, Powerstown Road, Silversprings and surrounding areas.

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People in those areas, who are already on a Boil Water Notice, have been unable to run taps, take showers or baths, flush toilets or operate appliances such as washing machines and dishwashers since the weekend. This is the latest in a long line of outages to affect people whose water supply comes from the Glenary Treatment Plant, despite a €10 million investment by Uisce Éireann in the plant as recently as June.

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The statement continued, "The water supply at the treatment plant was interrupted following flash rainfall over the weekend and as a result reservoir levels dropped, impacting on supply to customers across the town".

However, residents have pointed out that their supply was also disrupted the previous weekend, when there was no "flash rainfall". 

The company's statement continued, "Operational teams worked over the weekend to restore supply, and work continues to maintain production, but reservoir levels remain low and will take some time to recover.

"As a result, customers will continue to experience no water or low pressure. Normal supply is expected to be restored by 7am on Wednesday October 8".

Uisce Éireann says alternative water supplies are available at the following locations: 

• Gort na Managh housing estate – near Woodies, Ballingarrane;
• Heywood Road (Civil Defence Yard) and
• Elm Park Housing Estate
  
  

"Customers are reminded to use their own containers when taking water from the tanker and to boil water before consumption as a precautionary measure, as per advice from the Health Service Executive".

Uisce Éireann’s Pierce Faherty acknowledged the ongoing impact of the Boil Water Notice, as well as the disruption caused by the extended outage to parts of Clonmel. 

“There are upgrade works being carried out at Glenary Water Treatment Plant. However, issues such as maintaining the normal operations of the water treatment plant while carrying out these complex upgrades, the deterioration in raw water quality entering the plant as a result of recent heavy rain, as well as regular operational issues, have caused a disruption to supply, while also preventing the Boil Water Notice from being lifted.

“Uisce Éireann would like to apologise to all customers who have experienced an interruption to their supply and would like to reassure them that we are working hard to resolve the issues”.

Typically, it takes two to three hours following repairs for normal supply to restore to all customers affected by an unplanned outage. However, it may take longer for normal supply to be restored to customers at the end of the network or on higher ground, as the system recharges.