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Updated 9.57pm
The view from Pat McGarry’s front drive. Pic: Pat McGarry
RESIDENTS HAVE BEEN left in the dark in their Kilcock housing estate after the street lighting was turned off last Thursday.
The picture above shows the driveway in Pat McGarry’s home, which is one of 311 houses and apartments in the Chambers Park estate. Around 1200 people live in the estate, which is an unfinished housing estate, said McGarry.
This evening, Kildare County Council said that “in light of the health and safety aspect to the public of the entire lighting of the estate not working”, the council is making arrangements with the utility company to restore the public lighting to the estate.
It will seek to recover any costs from the receiver/liquidator.
McGarry outlined the impact the lack of street lighting is having on the residents:
People are walking around now with torches. From 7pm onwards there is nobody out on the street.
Electric Ireland said this evening that it last received payment for the Chambers Park account from Glenford Builders Ltd on 2 April 2009.
It said that EI was notified on 20 October 2010 that KPMG were appointed as receivers as of 24 September the same year, and that on 5 August 2013 they were notified of the appointment of a liquidator to wind up Glenford Builders Ltd.
EI continued that on 24 January a KCC staff member informed them that “they were not taking responsibility for the payment of electricity bills for the public lighting and pumping station at Chambers Park”.
Electric Ireland said it wrote to the residents association and to KCC requesting that one of them take over responsibility for paying future electricity bills.
It also informed them that the electricity supply would be withdrawn after 16 February 2014 if nobody registered with Electric Ireland so that the supply could be placed in their name.
It said it did not receive written confirmation about the transfer of the account for future billing, so ESB Networks disconnected the electricity supply.
When it has been agreed who will take over the account for future billing, their supplier will need to contact ESB Networks so that arrangements can be put in place to reconnect supply.
Sewage
Part of Chambers Park. Pic: Google
The power is also understood to have been turned off to the sewage pumping station, which pumps sewage for 40 homes.
The developers of Chambers Park were in receivership for four years before going into liquidation in January 2013, said McGarry.
McGarry told TheJournal.ie that the youngest resident in Chambers Park is three days old, while the oldest is 85.
“It’s so serious it’s comical,” said McGarry. “There’s nothing that the residents have done wrong.”
He said that the residents were not informed that the street lights were due to be turned off, and only found out after contacting the ESB Networks when the lighting did not turn on.
Chambers Park
Pic: Google
Chambers Park is a private estate but there are some local authority apartments there.
“I can’t see my car from my front window,” said McGarry.
“We have had some anti-social behaviour issues in the estate over last few months,” he added, saying that local gardaí have agreed to step up their patrols while there is no street lighting in the area.
I have a lady who goes to mass every evening; she says she can’t go to mass. I’ve had to ask residents to make sure their children are in by 7pm at night because it’s too dark.
He added that because the estate is unfinished the final layer of tarmac has not yet been put on the road, and that there are “major pothole issues”.
“These things cannot be seen because it’s so dark,” he said.
He is the chairperson of the residents’ committee and moved into the estate eight years ago.
Residents have been in discussion with Kildare County Council over the last eight years in an effort to get the council to take charge of the estate, but so far this has not happened.
Kildare County Council told TheJournal.ie this evening that the developer is responsible for the payment of power and the maintenance of lights under the estate is taken in charge.
It described the turning off of public lights because of non-payment of bills as “a mater for the utility company and the bill payer”, and noted that KCC is not the bill payer in this case.
The council said it “is a matter for the utility company to inform the customer/bill payer when disconnections are proposed”.
TheJournal.ie has contacted ESB Networks.
- First published 11.40am
So they tell us the issue is fixed and we are on a boil water notice. So, for how long have we been drinking contaminated water?
@Peter Cavey: I’ve been wondering that too… we’ve had a few stomach issues which we had put down to a bug.. maybe the bug was in the water for the past week!
@Peter Cavey: criptospiridium infection diagnosed in last couple of weeks in a child in Lucan apparently. As far as I know they have to be notified to HSE and if there’s a pattern this escalates the issue.
@Peter Cavey: Funny you should say that, I was very ill for almost a week & had my suspicions it was due to our tap water as it was the only thing I could isolate as being the source. Would be interested to see if there were many more?
@Peter Cavey: Sorry customer that’s only for paying customers to know.
So IW’s excuse for 600,000 people being put on a boil notice is “a small mechanical failure in part of the plant”.
Either lies or incompetence.
@Shakka1244: I can never understand why such events are not alarmed.
@Shakka1244:
I fail to see how a mechanical failure would not be a plausable excuse for a malfunction of a water treatment plant…
@Tim Pot: You fail to see how anything could possibly be wrong when Irish Water are involved regardless of the problem.
Are you employed by this by the back door billing company?
If you are not then you are some dope constantly informing us of their greatness.
@G Row:
Not defending anyone here, just pointing out that a mechanical failure in a plant would be a plausable reason for a failure. Mr. shakka above seems to think otherwise.
@Tim Pot: Go on say something bad about them, bet you can’t bring yourself to do it?
Would you be fired?
@David Corrigan: it must have been flagged in some way, that’s how they know about it.
@G Row: Give it a rest. He basically said the it’s plausible that a mechanical malfunction can occur in a mechanical system. And he is correct. Your bias against Irish Water is so great that it is affecting your ability to think logically.
@Conoroconnor: More than likely it was spotted by someone wandering around the place. Every single piece of plant should be alarmed. With wifi, GSM or LoRaWAN being cheap and available, there should be no excuse for not having an alarm for each point of the system.
@Tommy Roche: I never said it wasn’t plausable. I said he fails to see how anything could possibly be wrong when Irish Water are involved regardless of the problem.
Do you love them too if so I am sorry for offending your sensitivities.
@G Row: Pardon the pun now, if you are of a certain vintage, but what’s love got to do with it. Is it not a bit childish to ask someone to say something “bad”? There is no reason to believe that it wasn’t a mechanical failure. In the real world out in rural Ireland, mechanical failures happen on group water schemes and on private wells too.
@Paddy J: The real world out in rural Ireland, good one.
@G Row: when you behave like an irrational child, people will treat you like an irrational child.
@Tim Pot:
1)Was this failure identified in EPAs Audit Report on Leixlip Water Treatment Plant based on an Audit in March this year and published in April this year?
2)Audit Report noted Auditor’s Comments including their hope that:
‘ IW MUST ensure that lessons learned from this incident are acted on to prevent a recurrence and to ensure the ongoing safety and security of the water supplied by Leixlip Water Treatment Plant and to protect public health for the SIGNIFICANT population served by the plant.’
3)Audit Report noted 5 Findings and gave 8 Recommendations to which IW was to issue EPA with a Report within a month as to how IW would proceed to adhere to Recommendations in Audit Report.
So how did IW respond to these Audit Findings and Recommendations?
@Nuala Mc Namara: re 1) meant to say wasn’t not was!
@Nuala Mc Namara:
I have no idea on 1-4. I’m assuming this is contained on the epa website?
Obviously it would be for Fingal county council (the operators of the plant) to implement any reccomendations.
@Tim Pot: You know!
IW is in charge of water services as you also know and the Findings,Comments& Recommendations were for the attention of IW .IW was to issue EPA with a Report in May as to how they will comply with the Recommendations in the Audit Report!
@emul8ter25: Terrible isn’t it. Tut tut…
@Tim Pot: How can a major infrastructural system that treats water for 600,000 people be at the mercy of a “a small mechanical failure in part of the plant”?
If the entire treatment plant is so at risk to small mechanical failures then something is seriously amiss no?
@Shakka1244:
correct, thats why the hse was notified, the boil notice given and an audit by the epa on the plant taking place tomorrow.
They’re spin doctor called these homes and businesses costumers on the radio ? must of been a freidian slip and meant to consumers I don’t know any costumer’s of the PR quango
@Gerard Heery: I doubt they have any costumers, most likely they have customers
@talkingsense: Late for class?
@Gerard Heery:
First the audi’s now they are using costumers! corrupt!
@talkingsense: thanks for that lads bearla wasn’t me best subject
@Gerard Heery: Is dóiche nach bhfuil do chuid Gaeilge níos fearr. Béarla is ainm don teanga a bímid á chaint de ghnó. (Níl mo chuid Gaeilge foirfe ach an oiread.)
If Irish Water was privatised (as many believe was originally intended) we probably would never have heard about the malfunction. The same instincts for corporate self-defence that we have seen so often elsewhere would likely have applied.
Customers?
@JusticeForJoe: citizens!
Can someone please let the people in affected areas be given a phone number that can be reached. THE iRISH wATER wEBSITE has been down since 6.30 last night,FFS. People are going to become very ill, especially the elderly living alone.
@Gerry Howard: This company really appears to be struggling.
They are spending just as much through exchequer funding as they had planned to under domestic charges, so charging is not the solution.
Surely a plant feeding 600,000 people should have a back up to all equipment?!
Serious questions to be answered by senior management in Irish Water.
@Gerry Howard: I rang the water yesterday evening and was told that IW staff also rely on the website so they couldn’t tell me my area was affected or not. Great service altogether.
I wonder would the 500 million spent on water meters or the 1 billion spent on setting up an entity named Irish Water have made a difference if it was spent on infrastructure and upgrading the water network.
This really is a damning indictment on Government for shocking decisions made and waste of public money!!
@Jason:
173million to setup IW, not 1 billion. I think you are mostly correct on the cost of the meters, but I would add they are and have been used to fix leaks ect..
Why were we informed about this so late? We have already drank their contaminated water
Would be no more had the one cheek of FFG Mehole not lied and pleased other cheek leader Lieo…
@Willy Mc Bride: Willy hopefully the electorate will remember Mehole Martins pack of lies about getting rid of Irish Water when the next election happens. https://www.facebook.com/Right2WaterIreland/videos/2132873473608388/?v=2132873473608388
Tim will be along momentarily to answer all queries in relation to Irish Water.
@G Row:
and if he is not available try the twitter feed:
@Tim Pot: He’s always available.
One week ago I received a Text from Irish Water. It said that as I had paid my Bill before, i would receive a notice should E Coli or some other such mishap happen. I would be notified of any need to boil water.
I thought this very odd as, as far as I am concerned, Irish Water don’t exist. I was frightened in to paying my Bills as they said those on welfare payments [am on contributory state pension ] would lose out etc., plus those renting so I stupidly let them frighten me.
@Rosie: irish water obviously do exist, the charges were abolished, not Irish Water.
@Conoroconnor: Thanks Conor, obviously but I did not like ‘because I was a customer of Irish Water, I would get a text’ does that mean those who did not [rightly] pay for water, don’t get a warning via text ? or leaflet etc.,
@Rosie: Considering that Exchequer funding pays for water services,that letter you got is particularly worrying!
Water users used to have an Ombudsman re consumer affairs over water services before but that was abolished!
@Rosie:
‘customer of irish water’ just means ‘you recieve water from Irish-Water’
Its not excluding anyone who did not pay ect.
Here in Co Louth we are on a boil water notice since July with little or no communication from irish water.
@Niall Moonan: not Dublin = not important sorry
To have to boil water is pretty serious. How come a small malfunction would cause this. I personally don’t believe them. It is very suspicious and I think the problem is much worse. Why?
Because from the start, Irish Water was a tax machine and not fit for purpose, with cock ups in apartment water meters and in my area ancient water pipes and we were told that lead would not get in to the water .
@Rosie: It can actually be a small malfunction, most plants use chlorine to disinfect the treated water. A pump failure or something as small as a blocked injection nozzle will mean the water is no longer being disinfected and therefore no longer safe to drink. A pump failure should be picked up fairly quickly but a blocked nozzle can be hard to pick up and would depend on the chlorine monitoring system being used if any. Both these problems can be rectified quickly,probably in less than an hour. The problem is though that any untreated water has to work its way through the system and this can take time.
@michael gallagher: thanks for that information. However, surely somebody oversees that as it is so very important, as in boil water notices for days and ensuing giardia and other infections in the elderly and those with compromised immune system like myself and many others.
I think the proverbial slap on the wrist is in order here.
Can’t believe they wait till the problem is fixed before telling us…..I’m only hoping it’s not a plant that uses Raw sewage.
Smelly Water…….
When did the problem first come to light?
The fact it was already fixed when they issued the boil notice suggests there was some time between discovery, and issuing the notice.
Why? How long? One person I spoke to said it was detected at 11am yesterday. If true, that’s a 7 hour lag before it was announced to the public.
And how long prior to that was the defect active for?
Why are the media not asking these questions? I engaged with a County Councillor on Twitter last evening, and he seemed remarkably incurious about these questions. They seem to be THE questions Irish Water should be answering.
Guy on the Vox Pop on Newstalk this morning: ‘ I was at work last night and had to go out and buy bottled water to make a cup of tea’ Eh, no, not if you boil the water to make your tea you didn’t. In the same segment, another woman moaning, as she spent money on water for her dogs: sorry missus but dogs eat shite off the road and drink water out of drains! Doubt untreated tap water will do them any harm.
There are places missing on that map…Portmarnock for example, why isn’t that labelled?
@JC: maybe they’re not affected?
Irish water the Boris Johnson of Irish companies.
Useless and incompetent
Celtic Pure recalling their water again also. Only country in the world where it pisses rain all year round and the public’s only two sources of sanitised water, the council and shops, are trying to poison them.
@GrumpyAulFella: I really don’t think they’re “trying “ to poison anybody
@Liam Carlin: it was tongue in cheek chap. Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink – in Fingal anyway.
Sure it’s grand Irish Water, don’t worry about it, sure what would you expect for free?!
@Alan Bury: have you considered the possibility that the fact that people are demanding water for free may be contributing to these sort of problems? Just a thought
@Liam Carlin: We have already paid for our water through taxation. The reason Irish water was set up was to eventually privatise it. The billions of taxpayers money given to this monster seems to have poured into the ground literally.
they apologised that’s allright then
@Jason:
173million to setup IW, not 1 billion. I think you are mostly correct on the cost of the meters, but I would add they are and have been used to fix leaks ect.
At least ye have water in Dublin. In Athlone the water is turned off every night at 10 pm and back on again at 6am. Irish water day it is to conserve water and allow the reservoir to refill. Gas thing is they want to take water from the Shannon to supply Dublin yet they can’t get the water to the reservoir 2 miles away.
There not only seems to be a cloudy water as reported in the article, but also a lot of cloud regarding factual information.
Previous articles indicated that around last March the drinking water for said area was contaminated and there should have been a water boil notice issued but there was not, thus putting the health of 600,000 citizens at risk
After the previous water boil notice one of the three amigos in Government, Minister Cuckoo Murphy while been interviewed on radio and referring to the contamination which occurred around March indicated that there was a small mechanical failure which set off an alarm signal in a panel which had first to be viewed by an employee before a general alarm was given and a shut down, and because of human delay, there was a delay in the employee seeing this alarm it resulted in the March incident.
Well bearing in mind that the plant in question serves around 600,000 citizens, and in this day and age of technology if the situation was as Minister Cuckoo Murphy indicated, firstly it would be reasonable to expect taking into consideration the importance of this small mechanical failure, that there would be something like a dual or standby system, so that when the ”small” mechanical failure occurred / went down the other would kick in. Also in relation to relying on an individual person to observe the alarm and this delay been the reason for the March incident, surely in this day and age of technology, where alarms and systems, including mechanical, can be easily interlocked, and a failure in one part of system used as an inhibit in another part, coupled with alarms which can be automatically dialed out, for example to the EPA then there most certainly should not have been a March incident which unnecessarily put public health a risk. Also who is the manager of the plant surely a cause and effect assessment of the whole working system would have exposed the possibility of what happened last March occurring and therefore with this in mind modifications could be carried out, not just to minimize risk but to make it completely fail safe.
I certainly hope it was not the case of Irish water not having the funds to make safety upgrades/modifications, bearing in mind the millions of wasted euros spent on useless individual domestic water meters. What exactly is going on in the Leixlip Plant, will we be told the whole truth? don’t think so.
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