COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, February 14, 2011

MOTION NO. 24

MOTION: Councillor C. Jones

That the Manager will identify potential sources to provide assistance to householders who are in need of replacing lead service pipes at their homes. Further that the Manager will report on the extent of the problem where service pipes are not buried to the 45cm specification.

REPORT:

In the older parts of the County the service pipes between the public main and the house is often made from lead. These locations are largely known to the Council's Water Section from surveys that have been carried out and number approximately 4,000. Whilst financial resources do not permit a general replacement programme, the Water Section replaces the public portion of this service pipe at opportune times such as when the water main is being upgraded or replaced. Householders are notified in advance to facilitate the replacement of the private portion at this time also should the householder wish to take advantage of the opportunity which would reduce their costs.  The Council is not aware of the availability of any grants to facilitate this work but would recommend that householders avail of any opportunity to complete the work at reduced cost such as when carrying out renovations or building extensions to their homes.  House insurance may also cover lead service replacement.

In late 2008 and 2009, the Water Section targeted some estates where it was known that there were lead services including  the Crannagh/Ballytore estates in Rathfarnham and replaced all the lead services. In December 2008, 30 lead services were replaced and during 2009, 235 lead services were replaced. Unfortunately,  due to reduced resources and the weather related water emergencies the lead replacement programme has slowed down considerably with 39 lead services being replaced in 2010. The Dublin Region  Water Mains Rehabilitation Project  which has recently started in South Dublin County Council's administrative  area in Walkinstown will replace any lead services they come across. So far in St. Anthony’s Crescent and St. Malachy’s Drive all services with copper services which have been replaced.

The list of frozen services which are probably not down the required 450 mm to specification has been compiled from queries/complaints received by Customer Care, Deansrath Depot switch and from the local inspector’s diary and from the number of houses that were supplied with 5 gallon containers of water to tie them over until the water returned when their services thawed. 220 properties have been indentified with Rowlagh Estate in Clondalkin being particularly bad and will have the depth of their stopcocks checked to see if they are to the minimum specified depth.

During the cold spell a number of services  were dug up and had their services and stopcocks lowered in the footpaths outside the houses. However, this did not mean the return of water to the house in all cases as the service in the front garden still remained frozen. South Dublin County Council Water Maintenance Section will from the compiled list lower all frozen service pipes and stopcocks in the footpaths outside these houses over the coming months if we feel the services are too shallow but this may not cure the problem in the future during very cold weather as the service in the front garden may freeze.

It is up to the houseowners to lower the services in their gardens/driveways to prevent this happening.