This article is from page 8 of the 2009-06-09 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
BALLY VAUGHAN residents have told Clare County Council they want to keep the water supply they have and only use the new €5 million scheme currently under construction as a back-up.
The Ballyvaughan Development Committee has been campaigning for two years to have the new scheme abandoned. Less than a month ago, Clare County Council confirmed its commitment to finishing the scheme which will connect the local supply to Lickeen Lake in Ennistymon and decommissioning the indigenous supply at Newtown.
The new scheme is being construct- ed to allow the council to maintain the supply to Ballyvaughan within EU drinking water standards.
But residents of the area don’t want the new scheme and say their exist- ing water is just fine.
A spokesman for the committee said that the Likeen Lake source “measure for measure at many levels falls short of the quality of our own water’.
At a meeting last week, residents unanimously passed a_ resolution which has been sent to Clare County Council, calling for the existing Bal- lyvaughan water supply to “be up- graded to a level of complete accept- ability by Clare County Council, in accordance with EU standards” and that “Clare County Council commit to the upkeep and maintenance of
that supply in accordance with EU standards”.
The group also called for the ex- isting supply be channelled via a separate pipe other than the Lake Lickeen supply and that “this newly upgraded indigenous supply serve as
the primary water supply for the Bal- lyvaughan community” and that “an appropriate interchange valve system be inserted in the respective supply lines so as to facilitate their function as mutually operating auxiliary sup- plies in the event of back-up being
needed for either supply”.
Above: The proposed Ballyvaughan water scheme has come in for criti- cism from residents.