The unprecedented freezing temperatures that we experienced over the last number of weeks brought severe hardship in many ways to many people. First of all the icy roads made it extremely difficult for commuters to drive and for pedestrians to use the footpaths.
Then came the frozen water pipes and the thaw and the terrible inconvenience of having no water in your home. People were faced with having no water for drinking, washing and for sanitary purposes. Athlone, surrounding areas and most of the country was in the midst of a severe crisis.
First of all I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank our council staff for working in dire conditions trying to repair the endless number of leaks to the network.
On a daily basis I was reporting numerous leaks to the engineers varying from leaking stopcocks, water hydrants, and burst mains. They were responding in a very fast efficient manner.
If this was not enough the rising mains from the water treatment plant to the Annagh Reservoir burst in a number of places causing mayhem to our water supply. The council were forced to close down the reservoir for over 30 hours at one stage. In tandem with this the Batteries Reservoir was hit by numerous burst mains as well. Water was diverted on a temporary basis directly from the treatment plant to serve the centre of town.
I successfully made forceful phone calls to the command centre in Mullingar looking for more staff resources to be deployed to Athlone.
The council staff coped and while all is not yet over they are getting on top of the situation. The provision of standpipes and water tankers was welcomed by all concerned.
In the middle of all this the householder was unsure if they had problems with the piping system within their own property, some people experienced leaks in attics & garages.
To be quite honest I have to say that I found the last number of weeks very stressful as I wanted to help those in need as much as possible. My phone was ringing constantly from people looking for help and information. Therefore I felt it was very important to keep them updated as much as possible with the latest news on the times and locations of reservoirs shut down. I achieved this through texting, the social media sites and also word of mouth. I was also busy calling to peoples’ homes trying to help them defrost pipes.
One thing that I noticed during this crisis was the way that people rallied together and helped one another. The community involvement in gritting the roads and helping neighbours with no water was heart warming and very much appreciated. The local rivers were identified as a great resource to fill tanks for toilets, etc.
In conclusion I will be looking for a full report on this crisis at our next council meeting. While I know it will be very difficult to prevent this from happening again, I strongly feel we need to quantify the number and type of leaks that hit our network and try and identify ways to minimise the breakdown of our water network again in such circumstances.
