Published: Thursday, 7th January, 2010 11:40am

Public partly to blame for water cut-offs

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Morning mist draws in over Lough Derravaragh on Tuesday of this week as John McCauley's athmospheric picture graphically illustrates the winter chill which is currently gripping Ireland.

Householders in Westmeath are facing a shortage of water supplies for as long as the current, prolonged cold snap continues, Westmeath County Council has warned this week.

Large areas of Mullingar town and its hinterland have been having their water switched off each night since the Arctic conditions set in, because, the Council says, there has been higher than normal leakage from the public water system, and increased consumption levels.

Explaining that the nightly shut-down of supplies from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. has been necessary in order to "re-supply and recharge" local reservoir systems, the Council is this week appealing to the public to conserve water.

The higher than normal leakage of water from the system, is due to the number of pipes that froze and then burst, while consumption is up because householders fearing pipes leading to their homes may freeze and burst overnight, have been leaving taps running, Greg Duggan, a senior water services engineer with the Council told the Westmeath Examiner this week.

The practice of leaving taps running overnight is "killing the system", Mr. Duggan said, adding that the shut-downs are going to have to continue each night "as long as the current cold snap continues".

"We would urge people in the affected areas to make sure they refrain from leaving taps running," Mr. Duggan said, adding that this only exacerbates the problem by reducing reservoir storage levels.

He said that while major water problems have been reported in the Mullingar and its hinterland - particularly Tyrrellspass and Rochfortbridge - areas such as Athlone, Kinnegad, and Moate have been unaffected.

A number of individual houses and housing estates in the Mullingar area are understood to have experienced bursts over the Christmas period. These areas, which have low water pressure, have been provided with standpipes by the Council to enable access to water services.

"Many of the pipes in the Mullingar area would be over forty or fifty years old," Mr. Duggan explained.

"We have targeted a number of problem pipes, and a lot of EU funding is coming on stream from the Department to fix them.

"We are waiting for the Department to approve a consultant, who will prepare contract documents. But the money is there."

Advised

Householders and farmers have also been advised to take a number of other measures to conserve water for the duration of the cold snap.

Owners of farm buildings and dwellings in rural areas should check all their local land connections and fittings and insulate all outside yard taps to ensure that there are no leaks or water wastage from sub zero conditions.

Householders whose water supply has been interrupted for more than 24 hours are encouraged to check with their neighbours, to see if their water has returned. If your neighbour has water, then it is likely that your own service connection is either frozen or burst.

In the case of a frozen service connection, this may be defrosted by applying hot water at the stopcock, but this may not work in all cases.

Leaks on service connections may be temporarily repaired with jubilee clips and rubber piping. After that, it is recommended that you call a plumber to do a proper repair.

"We would be delighted if people could contact the Council, if they see any burst pipes or watermains, or if they see any running water on the road," Mr. Duggan said, adding that engineers may not know the full extent of leaks until a thaw takes place.

The Council's emergency crews have been working throughout the county to detect and repair burst water connections, and if you could help them out by identifying any potential leaks, phone the Council's headquarters on 044-9332000.