BASINS, milk jugs and pots filled with water are all around the Hyde Avenue home of a Limerick woman who has been left without running water since Saturday.
Valerie McCormack says the issue first emerged when Irish Water and Limerick Council were carrying out works on houses in Prospect.
“We’d come home in the evening, if we were having a shower, using the washing machine or flushing the toilet, all of a sudden the water would stop,” said Valerie, adding, “we checked the tank in the attic and it was empty but refilling slowly, the following morning we would have water again.”
After contacting the council, Irish Water and local TDs, the mother-of-three was told that because she is the owner of the house she “would have to get it fixed privately”.
Two of the of the four Hyde Avenue houses affected are owned by Limerick City and County Council and they had their water supply restored. The other two householders say they were told the issue arose because the four houses were never connected to a new water main.
“I have an eight-month-old baby,” said Laura Moroney, Valerie’s neighbour who has some running water.
“The water is coming out brown. I have to make bottles for the baby, it can’t be healthy,” she added, saying how shenow has to buy bottled water.
In Valerie’s case, water has stopped running completely and she depends on the kindness of her neighbours to fill basins of water to make it by on a day-to-day basis. When the family needs a shower, instead of a trip down the hall they have to make their way over to Valerie’s parents who live in the area.
“We all had to shower over in my parents’ house last night before coming home, but when you own your own house, you’d expect to have water,” she said.
No reply from Irish Water or Limerick City and County Council was forthcoming at the time of going to press.
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