Watters welcomes Uisce Éireann updates on north Louth water supply

Sinn Féin Councillor Antóin Watters has welcomed updates from Uisce Éireann representatives in relation to the ongoing water supply and discolouration in the North Louth area.

At a recent meeting of Louth County Council, a workshop was held with Uisce Eireann. Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Watters said:

“I was able to raise some of the ongoing issues with the water supply in North Louth. There have been a number of outages in Grange and surrounding areas throughout 2024 and it is a constant issue for local residents.  At least once/twice a month there has been unplanned outages which is inconvenient to households to say the least. 

"I requested details on any plans Uisce Éireann have to address inconsistent supply this once and for all. Uisce Éireann confirmed that additional operational resources have been directed to this area to respond to supply interruptions.

"There are also plans to drill some test bore-wells in 2025 subject to permissions from local landowners. If these are successful, it should alleviate the water supply issues. (Borewell water testing is the analysis of the water quality for domestic consumption)."

There are also ongoing outages in the Rockmarshall area and Cllr Watters sought an update on this location. 

“Uisce Éireann advised me that the issue in this area related to a combination of supply issues at Carling and Ardtullybeg boreholes and the elevation of the properties relative to the supply reservoir: Falling reservoir levels result in reduced flow and reduced pressure in high lying areas. Water outage in these areas can be mitigated through 

• an ability to produce more water through additional well fields 
• Undertaking regular leak detection sweep of the area (i.e. active find and fix programme) 
• Customers repairing private side leaks on their property (CSL’s)"

Cllr Watters said the biggest issue that is a “constant thorn in the side of families living in the Ballymascanlon/Bellurgan area is discolouration. I received the following update from them as they worked to address  discolouration on the Cavanhill water supply and their on-going trials at the water treatment plant...

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"…Flushing is being undertaken in the meantime as a mitigation action. Proactive communications on flushing are sent out bi-monthly to elected representatives and updates are also uploaded to our website. The current flushing programme is now complete and an update on the trials at Cavan Hill WTP will be provided to elected representatives in December".

Concluding, Cllr Watters was satisfied with the updates given on the concerns he raised and was hopeful that these issues would be resolved once and for all in the early part of 2025.