COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, February 08, 2021

QUESTION NO.14

QUESTION: Councillor C. O'Connor

To ask the Chief Executive if he is monitoring the concerns about the level of water supplies in the County and will he update the members in the matter

REPLY:

Irish Water issued a press release on 12th January 2021 with an appeal to homes and businesses in the Greater Dublin Area to check for leaks as the cold weather in early January had led to a surge in demand for water.  They issued a further similar press release on 20th January as at that time there was a forecast for freezing temperatures and storage volumes in the region were only just recovering from the previous weather event.  The second forecast weather event did not cause the same level of bursts and leaks and water supply and storage levels have recovered.  

SDCC area is a part of the Greater Dublin water supply, and is mainly supplied from regional water treatment plants at Ballymore-Eustace and Leixlip. Irish Water completed a project in 2020 to link the supplies from these 2 treatment plants via the reservoir at Peamount, with a new 1,200mm diameter watermain between Saggart and Peamount.  This project has assisted in our ability to move water within SDCC area and ensure continuity of supply.

Water Services staff from the regional LA's and Irish Water liaise and meet regularly to manage the water supply in the region, and through January there were 4 meetings to carefully manage the effects on the supply from the recent cold weather events.  SDCC Water Section dealt with and repaired a significant number of bursts over the period of the first weather event with 18 no. bursts repaired over 2 weeks.

Members are reminded that Irish Water have a Local Representative Support Desk.  This service desk can be contacted at localrepsupport@water.ie or at 1850 178 178.