*St Michael’s Villas
RESIDENTS of five housing estates in Ennis are awaiting confirmation from Irish Water that a watermain serving their households will be replaced this year.
An update on the replacement of the old watermain between Captain Mac’s Cross and Station Rd roundabout was sought by Cllr Paul Murphy (FG) at the February meeting of the Ennis Municipal District and seconded by Cllr Mary Howard (FG).
Cllr Murphy highlighted, “this watermain serves St Flannan’s Terrace, Castlewood Park, Saint Michael’s Villas, St. Anne’s Terrace and Ard na Gréine and poor water quality as well as frequent breaks in water supply have been experienced by these residents over a long period of time. I also propose that full road overlay is provided for in the 2023 Schedule of Municipal District Works”.
Senior engineer in Clare County Council’s environment section, Cyril Feeney confirmed that the request had been forwarded to Irish Water, “An update will be provided once received from them,” he added.
Hundreds of residents are impacted at present. The Clarecastle representative said, “There’s been issues behind there for a number of years between low water pressure and bad water quality but also due to elevated levels of iron”.
Acting senior executive engineer of the Ennis MD, Paddy Tiernan gave a positive update to the meeting. “Irish Water haven’t fully committed to the project just yet but it looks that section of watermain will be replaced this summer, as such we’ve included overlay from Captain Mac’s Cross to the Quin Rd on schedule of municipal district works for this year. Hopefully will have a new surface in place by the time the children go back to school in September”.
A pleased Cllr Murphy said he was “very happy” with the provisional plans, “I hope Irish Water do come to the table”.