IRISH Water has confirmed that work is to commence in the New Year to address issues facing Westbury, Shannon Banks, Ardnacrusha and Parteen, where residents have dealt with regular leakages and burst pipes for a number of years.
Fianna Fáil TD for Clare Cathal Crowe revealed: “I’m delighted to have received confirmation from Minister Darragh O’Brien and Irish Water that works to replace 900 metres of asbestos water pipe mains from Athlunkard Bridge to Larkin’s Cross will begin in early 2022.”
Deputy Crowe added: “This 15-inch mains pipe has been very prone to leaks and bursts. Last year alone, residents in the Westbury-Parteen-Ardnacrusha area had to endure 15 outages. The most recent outage occurred on the last weekend of October, when more than 1,500 homes spent an entire day without water.”
“When this section of pipe bursts, it’s very problematic to fix because of its location beneath one of the busiest thoroughfares between South Clare and Limerick City.
“Road closing permits are usually required, and traffic management crews have to arrive on the scene in order to manage traffic flows and enable workers to replace the pipes in a safe fashion.”
Irish Water confirmed that a design for a replacement pipe network is almost complete and they then hope to assign the work to one of their contractors.
It is hoped that the work will be completed by the end of April 2022.
“Most of the work will be carried out by night to minimise the impact on residents and reduce the propensity to cause traffic delays. A separate body of work will be underway to install a new pressure reducing valve just inside the entrance to the Westbury estate.
“This, combined with the mains pipe replacement, will help to significantly improve supply to all houses in the area. The new pipes will be ductile iron, and these have a very long lifespan. They can also cater for a far greater pressure of water flow and are far less susceptible to leaks, cracks and bursts,” explained Deputy Crowe.
He concluded: “The residents of Westbury, Parteen, Ardnacrusha and Shannon Banks have waited so long for this work to happen, but I’m now delighted that the works are funded and will now definitely happen in 2022 to the huge relief to all in the locality.”
