COMMENT: No end in sight to water supply problems in this Tipperary town

In December a press release issued by Uisce Éireann, the water utility company formerly known as Irish Water, informed all and sundry that “Uisce Éireann is making significant progress upgrading water mains in Tipperary, ensuring the delivery of clean and safe drinking water for hundreds of customers in the Premier County”.

Beneath the heading ‘Uisce Éireann’s €2 million investment in Tipperary in full flow’ (pun presumably intended) it stated, with barely concealed pride, “This €2 million investment involves the construction of new water mains to connect areas where water supply can be challenged (did it mean changed?) to a more reliable supply”.

This included areas such as Upperchurch and Kilcommon, with Cappawhite stated to be next on the list for improvements.

However, the sense of optimism and satisfaction expressed in the press release doesn’t wash (pun intended) with people living further south in the county in Clonmel, especially during the recent Saint Brigid’s Bank Holiday weekend.

Then, for a period of up to eleven days, even longer in some cases, people living in many elevated areas of the town had to endure water pressure so reduced that, from 11.30am-12 noon for the remainder of the day on most days, normal everyday functions that we take for granted, including having a shower, flushing a toilet, running a hot tap or operating appliances such as a washing machine and dishwasher, were out of the question.

This was just the latest in a series of problems that have beset the supply to homes and businesses in Clonmel in recent years.

In this latest episode, contact with Uisce Éireann proved a frustrating experience. The operator, presumably working from a call centre, stated that if the householder had water coming from their cold tap (barely stronger than a trickle in most cases) then the fault lay with their internal plumbing system and not with the water utility company. To most people whose supply was adversely affected, it seemed more than a coincidence that the same issue affected countless other houses at the same time.

Callers were also issued with a reference number, were told it could take up to 72 hours (!) to investigate the problem and were given the usual spiel that, because of GDPR, only a nominated person, and nobody else, could call back to inquire about the issue.

We know of one householder, living in an elevated area of Clonmel, who has contacted the company 14 times since last September because of problems with the supply. On one occasion, this resident was assured they would receive a call from the complaints department within five days, but no such call came.

In the midst of it all, the cancellation of events planned by householders in their homes for the Bank Holiday weekend and the reluctant withdrawal of invitations for people to come and stay for the weekend, no information about the situation was posted on the Uisce Éireann website.

In the days and week that followed, messages were posted on social media by people who contacted the company and were variously told that the difficulty was caused by faulty valves on the Western Road, and a succession of burst water mains. But again, this information wasn’t relayed to the general public on the company’s website.

There can be no doubt but that the quality of the delivery of the public water supply has regressed significantly for homes and businesses in Clonmel since Uisce Éireann/Irish Water was created by the Government eleven years ago.

Uisce Éireann officials who attended a meeting organised by the Clonmel Business Network last August were left in no doubt about the unreliable supply in the town caused by outages, boil water notices and low pressure, as business owners vented their anger and frustration. On that occasion a company official acknowledged that Tipperary, of the nine counties in the region, was the county that recorded the most supply issues.

Ominously, he also said the problems in Clonmel were not going to disappear overnight, and that there was “no magic wand” to fix those problems.

Around the same time, local councillor Michael Murphy said there had been 30 outages in the town in the previous five months.
And all of this in a town where it’s hoped to attract more industry and build more houses for its growing population, developments that will put more pressure on an already beleaguered system.

On the face of it, ensuring a fully operating water supply in a town and a hinterland with a population of approximately 20,000 people, and with three sources of water in Glenary, Poulavanogue and Monroe, doesn’t seem like the most onerous task.

Such problems simply don’t seem to exist in other places with much larger populations and a greater demand for water; think of Cork city (with a population of more than a half a million people), Dublin city (with a population of almost 1.5 million) or even London (population 9.5 million).

And what about popular holiday destinations such as Portugal and Spain, with hundreds of resorts dotted along their coasts and thousands of holidaymakers, all of whom enjoy a regular and uninterrupted supply during their stay in countries with considerably less rainfall than ours.

No one is claiming that occasional difficulties with the supply didn’t occur in the past, when the water supply was the responsibility of the council. However, such problems were invariably dealt with, and with speed and efficiency, by the council’s dedicated water services staff.

It will be argued that the payment of water charges, which met with such anger and opposition before being eventually abolished seven years ago, would have ensured an improved and more reliable water supply, and brought improvements to a system that we’re told is ancient and creaking.

However, given their performance to date, could Uisce Éireann have been trusted to deliver on that promise, despite the revelation last year that the number of the company’s staff earning more than €100,000 in 2022 rose by 95, from 176 to 271?

This is also a company whose 2022 annual report posted operating profits that increased by 11 percent to €252.67 million.

Is it time for the Government to do the decent thing by abolishing the company and handing control of the water supply back to the county councils?