Squeezed dry...Increase in demand in nearby Dunboyne resulting in water outages for frustrated residents in Kilcloon

Residents of Kilcloon have expressed their anger and frustration at the number of water outages in their area every weekend.

They say that every Saturday and Sunday, they are left without water all day and they were even without water last Christmas Day.

The residents, who include Cllr Caroline O'Reilly have a formed a group to keep the pressure on Uisce Eireann to find a solution to the frequent outages.

“It is happening every weekend, early on either Saturday or Sunday, we find we have no water. It is a ridiculous situation. The people in this area paid a lot of money to be connected to the water supply.

“We are particularly worried about the summer months when people start filling up pools and watering gardens - here in Kilcloon we will have no water at all.

“I have been approaching Uisce Eireann every week. I have written to the fire service as we worry about the fire hydrants. I have requested meetings with Uisce Eireann,” said Cllr O'Reilly.

Keri Madigan said that every weekend on either the Saturday or Sunday they find they have no water. “Then when the water comes back on, it takes a number of hours to fill back up.

“I have a son with special needs living here with me and he uses a lot of water. When the supply runs dry, sediment gets into the pipes and two years ago, I had to have the tanks in my attic taken down and flushed out.

“Kilcloon is a growing community and it is ridiculous that this happens every weekend. We were also left without water on Christmas day. It is ludicrous.

“Uisce Eireann have told us it is because of high water usage in Dunboyne at the weekends.

“I am seriously considering getting a well we had in the past re-installed. I have had enough of this Irish Water malarkey, it is really stressful, I am worried that I will need to get my attic tanks flushed out again.

“We have a lot of farmers in the community, a nursing home, a respite facility and a lot of elderly people and this is hugely inconvenient. We worry if there is water in the hydrants in the event of a fire.

“The day of my daughter's birthday party, we had not water from 10am to 8pm.

“When the water goes off, you cannot wash, make a cup of tea or even flush the toilet.”

Aneta Chacala said the water problems have been going on for the past 11 years. “Firstly it was a problem with the water quality, but now the problem is that we have no water at all for many hours every weekend.

“There was a time when we had this problem maybe once a month, but now it is every weekend and it is unbearable. We had no water this past Christmas and none on Christmas Eve the year before - a period when there are no shops open to buy bottled water. It is so stressful.

“Back in March, I had 12 children coming for a sleepover for my child's birthday and had no water. It is so frustrating.

“I am very conscious of the environment and hate the idea of using plastic because they won't supply us with water. I dread to think what the summer will bring when people are using much more water.

“We have to keep the pressure on, to keep reporting the outages, keep bringing the engineers out, because we need a solution,” she said.

John McDonagh said the water goes off either on Saturday or Sunday almost every weekend.

“We are working people and at the weekend we want to catch up on laundry and cleaning.

“It is my understanding we are at the end of the line and there just isn't enough water for all the new houses in the area. As the water in the pipe gets closer to us in Kilcloon, it is getting lower and lower. There is a pump outside Dunboyne and once the pressure goes down, it shuts off and we have no water,” he said,

“The unpredictability of it is a nightmare, because we cannot plan anything. We feel Uisce Eireann is giving everyone the runaround.”

A spokesperson for Uisce Éireann acknowledged the impact that recent low pressure and intermittent water outages have had on their customers in Kilcloon.

“Increases in demand in nearby Dunboyne and surrounding areas has resulted in a drop in water pressure for Kilcloon customers.

“Our teams are working to address the issue and put in place solutions as quickly as possible,” she said.