*Photograph: John Sheridan
CLARE’s water network has come under sustained pressure so much so that the country’s most visited outdoor tourism attraction, the Cliffs of Moher was at risk of losing its water supply.
Burst water mains caused outages in Ennis and Shannon but were successfully repaired on Tuesday after crews worked overnight. The water network in North and West Clare is now under pressure.
The Clare Echo understands that St Brigid’s Well in Liscannor ran dry earlier this week while The Cliffs of Moher visitor centre was at risk of having to temporarily close due to a potential scarcity of water.
This prompted the deployment of tankers to North Clare to prevent reservoirs from running out of water. Tankers were deployed to Moher and Liscannor on Monday and Tuesday of this week to fill up reservoirs.
A spokesperson for Uisce Éireann told The Clare Echo, “In North Clare, Uisce Éireann took proactive action over the weekend by deploying tankers to maintain water levels at the Cliffs of Moher treated water reservoir, a critical asset serving not only the Visitor Centre but also a wider network extending as far as Doolin. The tankering operation concluded on Tuesday, having successfully replenished reservoir levels to support business, customer and tourism-related demands”.
According to well-placed sources, the water supply for Carron and Kilkee is causing concern and will be monitored closely over the coming days.
Uisce Éireann in a statement to The Clare Echo appealed to the people of Clare “to conserve water as demand for treated water continues to rise during the current spell of warm weather”.
Network monitoring, leak repair activities and water resource management measures have been “stepped up” by Uisce Éireann to help protect the supply of water. “Reservoirs in North Clare remain at sufficient levels. The situation remains under close review, and Uisce Éireann will take the necessary measures should conditions change. These measures form part of Uisce Éireann’s ongoing efforts to safeguard water supplies during periods of high demand.
Meanwhile, crews from Uisce Éireann repaired a burst water main supplying the Water Treatment Plant, with water supply now fully restored to customers in Ennis town and surrounding areas since Tuesday morning. Repair crews were mobilised immediately after the burst occurred early on Monday morning and worked until 11.30pm to complete the complex repairs. To support impacted customers, an alternative water supply was put in place at Ennis Mart.
Crews also worked through the night until 06:30 on Tuesday morning to complete repairs to a significant burst that occurred in Shannon on Monday evening. Supply has returned to customers in Shannon town, Shannon Industrial Park and surrounding areas.
Darragh Conneely of Uisce Éireann said, “Our crews worked tirelessly to restore normal water supply. We understand the inconvenience caused by this unplanned outage and would like to thank customers for their patience and cooperation while repairs were completed”.
