Warning that plan to take Clonmel water supply from river Suir could be a 'disaster'

Plans to decommission the water treatment plants at Poulavanogue and Glenary, leaving just the river as the single raw water source for the town, would be “a disaster” for Clonmel.

This was stated by Cllr. Pat English at a meeting of Clonmel Borough District Council.

He was responding to a council report stating that the plants at Poulavanogue and Glenary had been placed on the Remedial Action List (RAL) prepared by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

It was stated that the RAL is a register of public water supplies with the most serious deficiencies and most at risk, where the EPA requires Irish Water to take corrective action to ensure the safety and security of the supplies. 

The RAL heading for the Poulavanogue plant was “inadequate treatment for cryptosporidium” and the proposed action programme was to “abandon the source and replace it with supply from a new Clonmel water source”.

Because of that it was intended that the Suir would be the single raw water source for Clonmel, and the plants at Poulavanogue and Glenary decommissioned.

However Cllr. English said it would be “a disaster” for the town if Irish Water put all its eggs in one basket. Both Poulavanogue and Glenary had served the town well, with a continuous supply of pristine water to the people of Clonmel and surrounding areas for many years.

He didn’t believe the Suir would be good enough to keep the supply going for the entire town, especially considering the long dry spell that was experienced last summer. The supply from the river would also be hard water.

Cllr. English predicted there would be problems down the line if they didn’t keep Poulavanogue and Glenary going, especially for business people if there was a lime content going into the supply, which would involve serious costs.

Since Irish Water took over in 2014 both plants weren’t being maintained as regularly as before.

Cllr. English also said the water pressure in higher areas of Cherrymount was poor, and he asked if there was a leak detection system in the area.

Cllr. Michael Murphy said he was “really alarmed”  by the council report and it immediately raised a number of red flags.

He said the long-term plan to abandon both plants and abstract water from the Suir was perhaps ten years away and wouldn’t happen anytime soon.

He asked what was plan B if Glenary and Poulavanogue failed in two months time or a year. 

Cllr. Siobhan Ambrose said there were “huge issues” with water. In the old days, when the supply was maintained by the council, they didn’t get as many calls as they did now. If there was heavy rain there were interruptions to the supply because the filters were blocked, and in some cases the supply wasn’t restored for days.

She would be concerned if the supply was changed from soft to hard water.

District Mayor Richie Molloy, along with Cllrs. Ambrose and English, said the blocking of combined drains was an ongoing issue in many older areas, and was proving very costly when people had to hire plumbers to clear them.

Cllr. Ambrose said an elderly woman who contacted her about this was “crying”.  

Another person had to pay €120 for a plumber from their old age pension. 

Senior Executive Engineer John Fogarty said that boreholes had been sunk near the town in an effort to augment the Poulavanogue supply, while there were plans to get the Glenary supply up to specifications.

He said it would take a long time and a lot of investment to get Poulavanogue up to scratch and Irish Water was looking at other options.

Mr. Fogarty accepted that the water pressure at Cherrymount was marginal but at times it was below an acceptable level. 

In time it might be necessary to instal pumps on the scheme.

He said there had been a lot of shut-offs of the water supply in Clonmel, many of them at night, as part of the leak-detection system.