This article is from page 6 of the 2014-07-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
QUESTIONS have been raised over the ability of the newly-formed Irish Water to deal with the county’s water supply following a serious water disruption in the Doolin and Lisdoonvarna area last week. One local man, who reported the fault to the new state water agency, said that the agency could not find Doolin on the map and had no record of a fault the area, despite dozens of reports made by local people. Irish Water took over the management of the local water system from Clare County Council in January. Residents in sections of Doolin and Lisdoonvarna reported that their water turned a dark-brown colour on Tuesday last, and became smelly and undrinkable. According to Doolin resident James Corbett, Irish Water could not locate Doolin when he contacted them. “The water was brown, dark brown, and you just couldn’t drink it. It was the same all over Doolin and Lisdoonvarna. At first I called Clare County Council, they said they had received more then 400 complains about the water but it was no longer their responsibility, it was Irish Water,” he said. “So I rang Irish Water myself and they didn’t know anything about it. They couldn’t find Doolin on the map. The person I spoke to thought it was down beside Kilkee. There was no notification that this was going to happen. “We have two newspapers and a radio station and yet the people were given no warning.” A spokesperson from Irish Water yesterday confirmed that the water supply in North Clare was now back to normal. “Maintenance work was carried out in the last number of days on the distribution network by Clare County Council and this activity may have caused discolouration on the network. “Both Doolin and Lisdoonvarna were affected by this issue which has now been resolved,” said the spokesperson.