'Scandalous' - thousands of Tipperary people have no water on eve of Bank Holiday weekend

On the eve of a Bank Holiday weekend, thousands of consumers in south and west Tipperary find themselves without a water supply this morning.

Remedial works at the Glenary (Clonmel), Galtee Regional, Ardfinnan Regional and Carrick on Suir (Linguan) Public Water Supply Schemes have been delayed due to the industrial strike action arising from a dispute between the Unite Trade Union and seven local authorities, which started on Wednesday and is continuing until today, Friday, August 4.

As people went to supermarkets and shops early this morning to stock up on supplies of bottled water, several shoppers at one Clonmel supermarket described the situation as "scandalous".

Uisce Éireann issued a statement at 10pm on Thursday night, saying that it and Tipperary County Council were aware of a low pressure and water outages impacting some customers supplied by the Glenary (Clonmel) Public Water Supply scheme.

"This has been caused by an operational issue at the water treatment plant resulting in loss of production. 

"Some customers will not experience a loss of supply for at least 24 hours, however some customers in the Cashel Road, Cahir Road and Ring Road area will begin to experience reduced pressure and outages from tonight, Thursday, 3 August. 

"Approximately 10,500 customers supplied by the Glenary (Clonmel) Public Water Supply may be impacted in the following areas including: parts of Clonmel Town centre and surrounding areas including Cashel Road, Cahir Road and Ring Road. 

"Remedial works have been delayed due to the industrial strike action arising from a dispute between the Unite Trade Union and seven local authorities, which is taking place between Wednesday, August 2 and Friday, August 4 inclusive. 

"It is anticipated that works at the plant will not commence until Saturday, August 5, when the strike action has ceased. This means that normal supply will not commence returning to customers until Saturday, August 5 with all customers expected to have normal supply back by Sunday, August 6. 

"To support impacted customers, Uisce Éireann has arranged the delivery of alternative water supplies with clean drinking water to the following locations: Tesco Carpark, Wheatfields, Baron Park, Cahir Road, Glen Oaks, Glenconnor Road, The Beeches, Old Spa Road, Elm Park, the junction of St Patrick’s Road and Davis Road, Old Bridge carpark.

"Customers are reminded to use their own containers when taking water from the tanker and to boil water before consumption as a precautionary measure as per HSE advice.

"Vulnerable customers who have registered with Uisce Éireann receive direct communications from us for planned and unplanned outages lasting more than four hours. 

"Our priority remains the protection of public health and the environment through the delivery of safe, secure and sustainable water services where possible during this dispute, and we will do everything within our power to maintain safe water services". 

Uisce Éireann’s Regional Operations Manager Jim Fitzgerald said: “This dispute is not with Uisce Éireann and is outside our control. However, it will regrettably impact Uisce Éireann customers. We have stood up our incident management team and are working closely with management in the local authorities to ensure that contingency plans are in place to minimise and manage disruptions to water and wastewater services". 

Uisce Éireann and Tipperary County Council also stated on Thursday that they were aware of a low pressure and water outages impacting up to 30,000 customers supplied by the Galtee Regional, Ardfinnan Regional and Carrick on Suir (Linguan) Public Water Supply Schemes.

"These have been caused by operational issues at each of the three water treatment plants and remedial works have been delayed due to the industrial strike action".

Customers supplied by the Galtee Regional Public Water Supply will be impacted in the following areas: Emly, Lattin, Ballinard, Cullen, Ballywire, Kilross, Limerick Junction, Monard, Lisvarnane, Rossadrehid, Bansha, Tankerstown, Kilfeacle, Golden, Cashel, Rosegreen, New Inn and surrounding areas.

Approximately 11,000 customers supplied by the Ardfinnan Regional Public Water Supply may be impacted in the following areas: Ardfinnan, Grange, Knocklofty, Newcastle, Ballyclerihan, Cahir (Clonmel side of the bridge, Tipperary Road and Mitchelstown Road (R913), Ballingarrane (as far as the Cahir road roundabout Clonmel),Market Hill and Red City area (Fethard), Kilnamack West, Co Waterford.

The Graigue Group Water Scheme supplied by Ardfinnan Public Water Supply is also affected.

Approximately 3,900 customers supplied by the Carrick on Suir (Linguan) Public Water Supply may be impacted by low pressure or outages in the following areas, including the north side of the River Suir, Friar Street Upper, Corpse Road, Rack Hill, South Quay and Bridge Street on the south side of the River Suir. 

Uisce Éireann says it has is arranged the delivery of alternative water supplies with clean drinking water to all the affected areas.

The Uisce Éireann customer care helpline is open 24/7 on 1800 278 278 and customers can also contact the company on Twitter @IWCare with any queries.

For updates visit the Water Supply Updates section of the Uisce Éireann website.