Clonmel Borough District’s councillors have sent a letter to Uisce Éireann appealing for the “acceleration” of the planned upgrade of the town’s water supply infrastructure and urging the utility not to close the Poulavanogue water treatment plant.
The letter that highlights “unprecedented public disquiet” over the state of the town’s water supply service, was signed by all six councillors.
Mayor of Clonmel Cllr Richie Molloy, who chaired Clonmel Business Network meeting in Clonmel’s Talbot Hotel about the town’s water supply problems, said he was very conscious of the upset among the town’s business community and residents over the continual water outages.
In view of the current difficulties with the water supply, the independent councillor said it seemed “crazy” to Clonmel Borough District’s councillors that Uisce Éireann plans to decommission the Poulavanogue plant, one of the three water treatment plants serving the town.
The councillors’ letter addressed to Jim Fitzgerald, Uise Éireann’s Regional Operations Manager of the South East Midlands Region, begins by highlighting the “constant and significant” issues with the drinking water supply in Clonmel and surrounding area for a considerable period of time.
“These issues have been the subject of continuous representations to us as public representatives, from both domestic and non-domestic customers.
“You will also be aware of the many occasions when these were discussed at various workshops which Uisce Éireann has held with us, as councillors, over recent years.
“Unfortunately, these issues have exacerbated over the last number of months. The letter detailed the recent serious disruption to water supply caused by industrial action accompanied by “frequent and significant” water outages due to technical malfunctions at one or more of the three water treatment plants of Glenary, Poulavanogue and Monroe serving the town and surrounding area.
“Other localised water outages have been due to bursts occurring in an ageing watermain network. The combination of these events has led to an unprecedented level of public disquiet, which is reflected in the degree of concern which is being conveyed to us as local councillors,” the letter continues.
The letter goes on to address Uisce Éireann’s plans for the provision of an upgraded supply from Monroe to meet the needs of the town.
But the councillors express concern that these plans will not be realised until 2026.
“We feel that these plans should be accelerated as much as possible to ensure their completion at the earliest possible opportunity.
“Furthermore, we are informed that these plans include the closure of the Poulavanogue water treatment plant.
“This plant has served the town well for many decades and, while we acknowledge that it may require upgrading, we feel that Uisce Éireann’s decision on its closure should be revisited.
“In that respect, we note that, during the recent issues which we referred to above, this plant was the plant that kept performing to its capacity and presented the least quantity of technical difficulties.”
Clonmel Borough District councillors conclude the letter by stating that they would welcome an early reply to their concerns and informing Mr Fitzgerald they are available to meet with him or his staff to discuss the “ongoing challenges which the public in Clonmel and surrounding area are facing in knowing that they have a reliable drinking water supply”.
Deputy Mayor of Clonmel Cllr Michael Murphy said it was regrettable that Uisce Éireann plans to decommission the Poulavanogue plant. He noted it was ironic that Poulavanogue was the one water supply serving the town that kept going in the most recent series of outages.
In his dealings with Clonmel’s business community, the Fine Gael councillor said he has been struck by the fact the water supply is their number one concern rather than issues such as labour costs.
He has counted about 30 water supply outages impacting Clonmel since April 1 and believes if this level of disruption occurred in one of the big cities like Dublin or Cork there would be a full scale mobilisation of resources to resolve the issues.
“If this was occurring in the large metropolitan cities it would be a national crisis. It was really striking that towards the end of May there was a major water outage in Dublin. It was really interesting to see the mobilisation of resources to address the outage within 24 hours. Unfortunately the same rules don’t apply to a town like Clonmel.
“Irish Water need to get a grip on this crisis facing Clonmel,” he declared.
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