Westmeath County Council refuse to help with frozen pipes

Garth

We woke up Christmas morning to no water and consequently no heat.

We put up with it for a couple days, but today rang a plumber and he came out and said it wasn't our pipes but the water supply.

I looked up the Westmeath Council "emergency" number for Mullingar and rang, and got a message that the mobile phone was turned off our out of service. I tried the Athlone number and was told there was nothing they can do, and because the temperature is going down to -5 tonight to expect it to last a good while.

I'm really angry. Surely this is insane. What kind of water supply system shuts down at -6 degrees?

BoB_BoT

make a note of when the water was gone, who you tried to ring and the response you got. Then take a walk down to the council offices, demand to know why nothing could be done, talk to your local representatives, hound the ****ers until you get an adequate response. Failing that, it's off to the papers.

Garth

Yeah that's what I'm thinking. Have been on the phone now to councillor and they're on the case.

Problem with marching to the council offices is they're closed now til the 31st, and then closed again on the 1st. If it takes that long, I'm going to start going to work unshowered and tell everyone why they have to put up with my stench.

nifheorais

Galway city council not helping out in Shantalla Galway City.No water since Christmas day. Numerous people have left messages and no replies from voicemail.

Saint_Mel

We're now in our 5th day without water (Athlone)!
Rang the emergency mobile number yesterday and was told there was 100's of houses with the same problem and the only real advice they could give was to wait it out until the pipes thaw out!!!

Garth

That's shocking. We're on day 4 now in Mullingar. Nobody can do anything apparently. It's a good thing there's no where in the world that gets colder than -9.

At least the plumber is coming out today to insulate our pipes, so when it gets cold again if the supply doesn't freeze, our pipes won't!

kaltz

Garth, What part of Mullingar are you in. I am near the Park Hotel and the water was off this morning but its back now. They are planning on turning it off again at 8 tonight until 8 tomorrow morning. Annoying thing is that Norma Jeans and Millies are working away. Houses with babies have no water and the bloody car washes are going full pelt.

http://www.westmeathcoco.ie/en/latestnews/title,4553,en.html

T Corolla

Hi there I am in Ashfield and I am pretty sure that the water was not turned off last night or any of the nights of the severe cold

Garth

I'm in Ardleigh and ours is still out. We're not in any of the areas affected by the planned supply outage.

This is so frustrating. I just want a shower in my own home!

I might have to see do the gyms to temporary memberships. Can't work out at home because I can't shower afterwards.

daytrader

Mine in Ardilaun Heights gone too and Ardlaun Green too. Nothing posted on council website, Kept informing other people today and no notice from them about here.


Whatever the councils current situation, funding etc, their PR and most councils PR is shambolic.

There is a member of Westmeath council sitting at home with access to his internet server and we could be notified on their website. They also should be informing us which and when roads are gritted.

Garth

We are told now the council is finally aware of the situation, despite the emergency number for the council being unmanned during the holidays.

Now the waiting begins. Well, we've been waiting for 4 days already, but at least now we know someone is aware.

daytrader

Well ours was just turned off at 8pm tonight so not as unlucky as you, what annoys me is they wont notify anyone.

How many in the council have server access and can update the news page?

I've read their old notice all day and could off filled some water up and being prepared..

They couldn't give a flying s**t.

Garth

I am really shocked that they didn't have anyone on the "emergency" number that's listed. Nobody answering at all. I mean, why do they bother having a number?

dizzydiesel

I noticed our pressure was low at about 9pm last night. The mains had frozen on 26th but got it warmed up and working again.

This morning - no water again. Just wondering if its the "controlled outage" or are the pipes frozen again?

I'm in Greenpark - Mullingar.

kaltz

Our water went off last night and is back about 30 minutes now. Hope this is a short term thing.

Saint_Mel

We're in our 6th day now without water :mad:

Kind of ironic that a few weeks ago people were in bother on account of too much water here and now for the past 6 day I've been like an antichrist due to the lack of it :mad::mad:

daytrader

Seems a lot more off the town was without water last night. Very bad form not updating their news page and letting people know. Still the same now.

demanufactured

You should still be able to use your heating , is it an oil fired boiler?
The poipes should be well lagged under ground if its outside.

outeverynite

Garth i'm in Ardleigh also and I'm out since christmas day...luckily I wasn't cooking here that day...still have no water...was onto council there today and they've said there was a digger and a couple of water vans up this way today...have a friend in Ardilaun Green who's water was out for 2 days...she got hers back so I've been fortunate enough to be able to go across to her house for a shower and to do some washing....lets hope it gets sorted by tomorrow as it's ridiculous! :mad: :mad: :mad:

DonJose

Our water also went off last night at 8pm, I filled up the bath beforehand so at least we'd have water to flush toilets and heat up for a sink wash We also filled up all the empty 2lt bottles with drinking water for tea and such, no more more nightime showers for a while.

daytrader

Hey outeverynite, didn't know your house was gone too. Ment too text you lasts night but thought you were out. My problem is they didn't inform us. Rang a few councilors today. Bet they have water in sub zero poland!!

outeverynite

Yep mine and the neighbours gone...not a feckin tick out of it...do have heat tho which is a bonus but the water situation is just gone beyond belief now at this stage...how the hell does the country fall to pieces when we get freezing weather??? :eek:

dizzydiesel

daytrader wrote: »

Hey outeverynite, didn't know your house was gone too. Ment too text you lasts night but thought you were out. My problem is they didn't inform us. Rang a few councilors today. Bet they have water in sub zero poland!!

Exactly - why weren't we told?

Saint_Mel

Our water finally came back just after 4am today.

outeverynite

We're back this morning....diggers working up at the back of Ardleigh Vale at the moment so hopefully anyone else who's out will have theirs back soon, if they haven't so already.

daytrader

Ye. But read council website update. Large parts off the county will be switched off at night to get water levels back up due to leaking.

outeverynite

Our water is gone again....woke up this morning and no water coming out of our cold tap...this is ridiculous...is anyone else gone?

Garth

Ours has been gone since they turned it off last night. 3 council guys came out -- 2 watching one work. Like a friggin cartoon.

Turns out last council guy who was out forgot to replace the styrofoam plug above the pipe, which is probably why it froze.

Also I looked it up and those pipes are supposed to be over 2 feet down. Ours are about 12 inches down. No wonder they're freezing.

outeverynite

Yeah did a bit of looking up on that myself and saw that that was the depth they were supposed to be placed...no wonder Ardilaun Green still have their water...their pipes must of been correctly placed in the first instance...wonder will they have it back for us tomorrow??? Doubt it.

Heard the Spar shop is sold out of water...will have to get some in Tesco now if they're not also sold out...but its the general stuff like having showers, cooking, and washing that ya can't do...it's making me SO MAD!!!!

Garth

Yeah a shower would be pretty damn special at this point.

dizzydiesel

Folks,

My water is still gone - in Greenpark. Went yesterday and never came back today (yet)

Anyone else still without water?

Garth

None yet. We've only had water for a day and a half since Xmas day. Ardleigh.

daytrader

Garth wrote: »

Ours has been gone since they turned it off last night. 3 council guys came out -- 2 watching one work. Like a friggin cartoon.

Turns out last council guy who was out forgot to replace the styrofoam plug above the pipe, which is probably why it froze.

Also I looked it up and those pipes are supposed to be over 2 feet down. Ours are about 12 inches down. No wonder they're freezing.

Yep, seen the boys yesterday with the foam and the saw! Came in 2 vans too!

daytrader

Current Water Situation 3rd January 2010 16.45pm
Westmeath County Council wish to advise the public that water supplies are being turned off from 8pm this evening, 3rd January 2010 in most areas of Mullingar and the hinterlands.
Supplies will begin to be turned back on in the morning from 7am, 4th January 2010.

Most areas have had water suspended each night this week between 8pm and 8am.
Our phones are being manned from 9am to 5pm each day and emergency numbers available when 044-9332000 is rang after hours.
Please report any leaks or burst water mains immediately.

Consumers are thanked for their patience in this and asked to minimise their usage of water.

http://www.westmeathcoco.ie/en/latestnews/title,4553,en.html

Iomega Man

I just wonder....
When we are ALL on water meters,will there be a problem like this..?

Nope,I don't think so

youngblood

Gettin a little fed up with the Council and the water stopages? If the cold snap is set to continue like forecast, can we expect this to last till Mid January?

jigglywoo

daytrader wrote: »

Current Water Situation 3rd January 2010 16.45pm
Westmeath County Council wish to advise the public that water supplies are being turned off from 8pm this evening, 3rd January 2010 in most areas of Mullingar and the hinterlands.
Supplies will begin to be turned back on in the morning from 7am, 4th January 2010.

Most areas have had water suspended each night this week between 8pm and 8am.
Our phones are being manned from 9am to 5pm each day and emergency numbers available when 044-9332000 is rang after hours.
Please report any leaks or burst water mains immediately.

Consumers are thanked for their patience in this and asked to minimise their usage of water.

http://www.westmeathcoco.ie/en/latestnews/title,4553,en.html

Did they put a notice out on the radio or was it just on their website? We hadn't a clue they were gonna turn the water off for the last couple of nights, someone in our house had to find out the hard way while in the shower.
Our water hasn't been gone apart from night time.

Garth

My problem with the stoppages is this.

Because our pipes are obviously not low enough in the ground, the only way we can prevent burst/frozen pipes is to leave a tap dripping. Ok I know this is not environmentally sound, but I'm not the inspector in charge of checking ot make sure these things are done right in the first place.

So because we were all leaving our pipes dripping they say they have to turn off the water. That leaves water sitting in pipes during the coldest hours of the night, and basically ensuring none of us will get our water back until the weather warms up substantially, and we'll continue to lose it whenever it dips below zero.

Their emergency phone wasn't manned and it took us 4 days to even let the council know this was going on.

When someone finally came out to look at it (and do nothing), they didn't replace the insulation and essentially caused our second water outage.

This is costing us a fortune in electricity (using space heaters) and taking all our spare time ferrying bottles of water from friends' houses home, so we can do crazy things like clean ourselves and flush the toilets.

The council is just ignoring this problem entirely and punishing those of us affected by turning off the water -- without notifying anyone, I might add.

What's going to happen? Are developers going to be told to rectify the depth of the pipes?

How long will they tolerate people going without basic facilities in their homes? We've been out of water for about 8 days since xmas day although we did have water for a day in the middle.

daytrader

This is costing us a fortune in electricity (using space heaters)

You should still be able to use your heat? The water in the radiators is a closed circuit.

daytrader

They are updating the website all week after getting much pressure for them too do so. Not sure about the local radio, don't listen to it.

Garth

Our system seems to be fed directly from the mains. As soon as they turn off the water/the pipes freeze, our heating goes.

We do have a fireplace, but that's just one room in a four bedroom house. All I want right now is a freakin shower.

daytrader

oil or gas? cant see why you cant heat the rads? the hot water circuit from boiler to rads should not empty, off course you have no shower as it's mains water and all is gone.

kopfan09

No probs with the water supply here in Raithin.

Garth

We used to have to top up our system when it dropped pressure every couple of months... there was a slow leak somewhere. BUt ever since the water probs, it drops pressure within hours of us losing water.

I'm so cold! And so bloody sick of this I might just march down to the council today and have a nice long, warm chat with them. While I'm there, I'll wash my hands use the loo and maybe even wash my hair in their sink.

outeverynite

I've just been onto the Council and they said that water was back on...I said it hadn't been as we've had 2 days water since Christmas Day and not a peep out of it since. They asked did I throw hot water down on the stop valve (don't know if this is right term) thingy and I said yes. They then asked had neighbours got water. I said no. If this is developers fault what are we going to do? The estate hasn't been put into ownership of the council and the estate to date hasn't been finished off as per plans. I cant live with water being taken off us ever time there is a bit of frost...:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: INCREDIBLY ANGRY

Garth

I think you may have been talking to them when I was there in person.

I actually broke down in tears. NINE days! Nothing they can do, apparently.

After I stayed, and cried and gave out, she rang someone and said there's going to be a "stand pipe" that will provide us a place to get water put out our end of town, and also they're organising access to the swimming pool so we can shower.

I want to hear that someone's taking the developer to task over not burying the pipes low enough.

Themadhouse

The problem with the heating is that it's gas and is fed from the mains. If it gets cold out the pressure drops for some strange reason. It seems to be a common problem. If the pressure drops and we have no water we cant feed it. I was with them complaining on thurs morn and will be back again on wed morn. Sick of it!

mandz

I live in Gleann Petit out the Dublin Road and its a similar story with our house. Again I think our pipes are not down low enough as the houses either side of my house have water and as far as I know the house directly across the road is having similar probs to us. Landlord got water going last week but it appears that when the council cut the water the water in the pipe outside froze so were back to square one. This 8-8 timing is awful too. Even if we had water by the time I get home from work I'd just make it for a shower (provided no hold ups on the train) and I'm up too early to have one in the mornings.

Only bright side I can see is that I've no choice but to get myself out to Bloomfield now and burn off the crimbo pounds so I can have a shower!!

Garth wrote: »

I might have to see do the gyms to temporary memberships. Can't work out at home because I can't shower afterwards.

Garth you should try Bloomfield I think they do short term ones.

daytrader

Are you sure the pressure dropped? The gas boiler will read 0 psi when off, it runs between .2 and 2 psi when turned on. Maybe you do have a leak but your rads water would be in your system for a long time unless the mains was topping it up due to a leak, you'd find it hard to heat a house then as you'd be constantly heating cold mains water. Just my 2p worth. I also think every house should off being provided with full electical and plumbing diagrams.

daytrader

Maybe that should be .2 bar not psi

Themadhouse

The pressure gauge on the boiler reads 1.5 ish, it stays more or less the same all the time. The gauge in the hotpress reads 0, this is the one we keep an eye on.
Quite a few of the houses on the road have the same problem with the pressure drop when the water goes.