Flushing of water pipes on northside of Cork city to start this week 

Water works are to take place across the northside of Cork city this week and are set to continue for four nights.

Planned flushing will take place in Shandon Court, Goldsmith’s Ave, Sarsfield’s Terrace, Lansdowne Court, Audley Place, Richmond Hill, and Sidney Place.

These flushing works are part of Uisce Éireann’s network improvement plan to address water discolouration issues.

Water operations lead for Uisce Éireann, James Goulding said: “This is the start of the next phase of our extensive flushing plan for the northside of Cork city.

“Our goal is to minimise the instances of discolouration for the people of Cork city in targeted areas across the city, where reports of discolouration have been received.

“Areas are prioritised based on customer feedback and reports made directly to our customer care team.”

The next round of flushing in this programme is set to commence at 10pm tomorrow, February 4, and is expected to take up to four nights.

As works progress through the area, signage will be put in place.

Customers are also advised to check the supply and services section of the Uisce Éireann website on https://www.water.ie.

Isolating

The programme involves isolating and flushing small sections of the water network to clear any build-up of sediment from the old cast-iron pipes.

Isolating the flushing area from the larger network in this manner minimises disruption and improves sediment removal.

Clearing the pipes in this manner can result in sediment carrying through to customers’ taps, resulting in increased instances of discoloured water in the short term.

To minimise disruption further, the works will be carried out at night-time during off-peak usage hours, typically starting after 10pm and finishing in the early hours of the morning.

This is to allow the network to have time to return to normal before the morning demand starts, reducing the potential for discoloured water in customers’ taps.

Each area is broken down into zones for night-time works.

Review

As Uisce Éireann progresses flushing through these areas, a review of the programme’s operational effectiveness will be undertaken before proceeding to the next zone.

A spokesperson for the water company said: “Uisce Éireann continues to advise not to drink discoloured water.

“In the event of discolouration, running the tap for several minutes — we recommend up to 20 minutes — will usually restore water to a clear colour. The water is safe to drink once running clear.

“If the issue remains unresolved, we encourage customers to contact us directly. The customer care helpline is open 24/7 on 1800 278 278.

“Customers reporting instances of discolouration help us to determine flushing locations on the network.”