Cork city water woes will take six months to resolve, says Uisce Éireann boss

Three Cork TDs have called for an alternative supply of drinking water to be provided on the city’s northside by Uisce Éireann.

This comes after the utility’s chief executive said that the ongoing water discolouration issue had “taken far too long to resolve”, but would not be reduced for another six months by measures currently being taken at the Lee Road plant.

Independent Ireland TD Ken O’Flynn said that he had been told by constituents that they were at “the pin of their collar” paying €40-€50 per week to purchase bottled water.

Minister of state Colm Burke said a “clear plan” was needed for the resolution of the discolouration issue, and called for “an alternative supply of water” to be available when measures such as flushing were being implemented in specific areas.

Sinn Féin’s Thomas Gould said an alternative water supply — be it in tankers or in bottles — should be available throughout the year, but that it was particularly important during the festive season when more people would be at home, and water would be used for cooking.

“With shops closed over the Christmas, what are people supposed to do if their water runs brown?

“We know, from testing the water, that it should not be consumed,” said Mr Gould, who alleged many people’s drinking supply was unsafe.

“However, Uisce Éireann continues to refuse to provide an alternative — leaving some of the most vulnerable forced to drink this water.”

Frustrating

Uisce Éireann chief executive Niall Gleeson, speaking on RTÉ Radio on Sunday, said that the company knew it was “very frustrating for the people down there”.

“We have an office in Cork and a lot of people living in that location, and their friends and family are frustrated by the whole thing,” he said.

“It’s taken us far too long to resolve this issue — we do apologise to the people down there living with this situation.

“We have a number of projects going on, we have a taskforce dedicated to Cork, we are flushing as much as we can,” he added.

“We’ve got 300km of old cast iron pipes down there, and there is a sediment issue and some sediment coming off those pipes.

“Once you flush, that water is safe to drink. You just need to flush it out of those taps and make sure it’s clear.

“But once the water is clear, it’s perfectly safe to drink.

“We do have some upgrade projects going on at the Lee Road plant, which we’ll complete by the middle of next year, which we think will reduce the number of incidents.”

When asked if this meant that it would another six months to see a reduction in the discolouration of the water on Cork’s northside, Mr Gleeson said: “Six months, yeah.”

Clear plan needed

Fine Gael TD Colm Burke said that the issue with discoloured water had only come to the fore in the last two years and that, to his knowledge, it was not happening elsewhere in the country.

“Two years down the road and we’re still not being told when exactly we’re going to resolve this issue — No 1, there needs to be a clear plan; No 2, you don’t have to do entire areas at the one time.

“How can you manage it in such a way that you can do the cleaning out of pipes in particular areas at particular times, and then that there’s an alternative supply of water available, that needs to be carefully planned.

“The city council, when it was operating the system, didn’t appear to have a problem like this.”

Ridiculous

The Independent Ireland TD for Cork North Central, Ken O’Flynn, said the provision of an alternative water supply had to be considered and said it would come down to feasibility.

“We may have to go down that line, unfortunately,” he said.

“It’s ridiculous that I have people who have the pin to their collar who are telling me that they can’t afford to buy water and that they’re paying €40-€50 per week additionally on water supply for the family and having to go to launderettes.”

In a statement, an Uisce Éireann spokesperson said an additional conditioning unit would be installed, alongside a manganese reduction system, by mid-2025 — an additional investment of €1.6m.

“As set out by the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities, when a Do Not Consume notice is issued, alternative water supplies are made available,” the spokesperson added in response to residents’ demands for an alternative water supply.

“This is not the situation in this instance.”