A Small Investment Would Prevent Future Water Shortages- O'Brien

A Small Investment Would Prevent Future Water Shortages


Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan O’Brien has said a relatively small investment in the city’s water system would prevent ongoing problems with the water supply to the city’s Northside in coming years.

Cllr O’Brien said:

“The immediate cause of the water shortages over the past couple of weeks has been burst pipes due to the big freeze. However the problem has disproportionately affected the city’s Northside - which is the same pattern as occurred last winter.”

“The reason is that while most areas of the Southside draw their water directly from the reservoir at Iniscarra, water for the Northside comes through the pumping station on the Lee Road. This means that when there are leakages within the system due to broken pipes, there is sufficient pressure and volume remaining to supply most areas on the Southside; however this is not the case on the Northside, leading to the kinds of problems we are currently seeing.”

“In response to a number of questions from myself, the City Manager yesterday stated there are two ways of rectifying this; either to increase the pumping capacity at the Lee Road or to put in place an interconnector between the Northside and the Southside. Neither of these measures would cost a fortune; an interconnector, for example, would cost no more than €2 million. This should be seen in the context of the government’s plans to spend €1 billion over the next few years installing domestic water metres in all homes to facilitate the levying of water charges. It is Sinn Féin’s view that this money would be better spent upgrading our existing water supply.”

“Both the problem and the solution have been known to council officials since the water crisis last winter. Nothing was done, and as a consequence hundreds of families were left without water for the New Year. The council and central government must now prioritise upgrading the city’s water system to ensure this situation does not occur again. Otherwise the water shortages we have seen in the past week will become a recurring feature of life for people in the Northside each winter.”

For further information or comment contact Cllr Jonathan O’Brien @ 085-2133907