Eight times in the past 12 months the staff of Westmeath County Council have been working to repair leaks and bursts on the mains water network in the Clonbrusk West estate.
According to Cllr Aengus O’Rourke, this is a waste of money and time, and is a great inconvenience to the residents in the area. He is calling on Irish Water to replace the old water mains in this estate with a new mains as was done in the rest of the town last year. Cllr O’Rourke said: “The concrete and asbestos pipes that carry the water in this estate are totally unreliable and are beyond their useful life.
“Each time there is a burst in this area the water is turned off to carry out the repairs. As soon as the pressure is returned to the pipes they weaken or blow further down the pipe. Each time this happens the road is dug up, the water is turned off, and all of this is proving to be extremely inconvenient for the residents living in the area.
“Irish Water should have rehabilitated this pipework when they were upgrading the town last year but they refused to do it at the time, despite my recommendation to do so. Now, a year later the chickens are coming home to roost, the pipes are failing with more frequency, the cost to repair this line is soaring, and the residents are understandably running out of patience.
“I would like to thank the residents for their time and for raising this matter with me and assure them of my best efforts to resolve it. I have raised this issue with Irish Water and the council executives with responsibility in this area. I am also raising the matter as a special motion at our February council meeting. I will continue to work on this matter for the residents of Clonbrusk West.”
