Crews working to repair burst pipe

Irish Water and Meath County Council are currently on site fixing a pipe burst on a 400 mm diameter uPVC gravity main at Riverstown, Rathfeigh which supplies customers in East Meath from the Staleen Water Treatment Plant (WTP).

This is a different pipe to the one that burst in July of this year in Roughgrange.

According to Irish Water, ongoing repairs are currently on schedule to be completed by 5pm this evening. The location of the burst is at Riverstown, Rathfeigh, on the Duleek to Ashbourne Road (R152).

"At present customer supply to Ashbourne is not affected whereby increased production at Rath WTP is taking place to supplement demand," a spokesperson said.

"However depleting reservoir levels at Windmill Hill may cause reduced water pressure and subsequent supply disruption, particularly in Ratoath, Skyrne, Kilbride and Rathfeigh areas.

"Allowing an adequate reservoir recharge time, normal water supply will be restored overnight to these areas."

Irish Water says it will keep customers updated over the afternoon and evening as the repair progresses and has apologised for the inconvenience caused.

The pipe burst comes just a week after a review into the water crisis found that watermain bursts like the one that crippled large parts of Meath and Louth last July will continue to be a common occurrence for years to come. Irish Water admitted the likelihood of further major bursts in its review into the water crisis that left tens of thousands of residents without water across the North East at the end of July.