Westmeath County Council refuse to help with frozen pipes

daytrader

Our water comes from lough owel. The water is turned off because everyone keeps taps running, which wont really stop freezing. Go into town and look at the water fountain at cosgroves pub, frozen in flow. Insulation is the key. Also keep your heating on a little, it's seperate and will help stop extra freezing in your attic. No need for electric heaters.

Garth

I've been talking to the Westmeath Examiner since their ridiculous article blaming us for the water shortages. They're looking into doing a story on the REAL story, what is happening to those of us without water.

If you want to contact them, you can ring the paper, or message me and I'll give you the direct line for the reporter I was dealing with.

http://www.westmeathexaminer.ie/

The more people talk to them, the bigger story it will become and the more likely our council will be shamed into helping.

Cpt Beefheart

I'm in Lakepoint and lost water yesterday although neighbours both sides are on. The residents association here are doing a great job. There were two gentlemen around last night with barrels of water to top up the tank so we could flush toilets and have some small bit of running water in the house. It would seem that the pipes are laid the requisite 18 inches below ground level for my house so no chance of water back until the thaw. I never thought I'd be wishing for rain.:)

Garth

Current building standards I found specified a minimum depth of 750mm.

Cpt Beefheart

750 mm?? Is that about 30 inches. I should have said my pipes are not the requisite (as I was told) 18 inches. My meter point is at 11 inches so I am way off. No wonder I froze.

Ciar0468

750mm is correct. it is the minimum depth, the maximum is 1.35meters.

Update on Arg Grainne progress:

I have been informed by another council member that the water is not being turned off at night here.

I have hooked a hose up to my neighbour, (who is a saint for allowing us access to his back garden and water supply) who has water and attached it to our outside tap. We have closed the valve to the mains water under the sink to prevent the water flowing down the mains pipe, causing more problems. This allows us to fill our tanks. The hose can be removed at night and taken inside. It only take a kettle or two on the tap to defrost in again.

For tonight I am going to check the neighbours water after 11pm as this is when the supply is suposed to be turned off tonight. I will find out if we are being turned off or not for definate.

We had a visit from a Westmeath County Council Water Engineer. He is actually a nice man to deal with in person. The status of the estate is that it has not yet been taken charge of by the Council. Before the council take charge of the estate, the builder will have to rectify the awful job he did on the pipework. It will all have to be re-laid to regulation. If the builder fails to do this then the council have the builders bond. This money will be used by the council to rectify all problems with the pipework.

As for how fast after the thaw this will happen I am not confident that it will be soon. I think that every resident will need to get on the the residents association and use a joint voice to get the work done so no-one has to face this again next winter.

It seems that anyone who has bought their house within the last ten years should still have a homebond or similar on their house. Either the builder if not yet taken over by the council, or the council are responsible for relaying pipes once the weather warms up enough to do so.

In the mean time, I hope all all of you with no water can find some sort of short term solution. If your neighbour has water; see if you can do the same as we have. It has truely been a lifesaver to us.

If I find out anythin else, or any other solutions, I will post them.

cchacko

hi i stay in woodville athlone westmeath, no water here it is frozen for a few days causing us lot of trouble r there any emergency number of people who can fix this problem in the athlone area

Saint_Mel

Just read the Westmeath Co Co. website and they say water supply in Athlone was being turned off around 11pm ... which is around the same time as I noticed my water went tonight ... which is odd as the neighbours still have supply!

120_Minutes

Ciar0468 wrote: »

750mm is correct. it is the minimum depth, the maximum is 1.35meters.

Update on Arg Grainne progress:

I have been informed by another council member that the water is not being turned off at night here.

I have hooked a hose up to my neighbour, (who is a saint for allowing us access to his back garden and water supply) who has water and attached it to our outside tap. We have closed the valve to the mains water under the sink to prevent the water flowing down the mains pipe, causing more problems. This allows us to fill our tanks. The hose can be removed at night and taken inside. It only take a kettle or two on the tap to defrost in again.

For tonight I am going to check the neighbours water after 11pm as this is when the supply is suposed to be turned off tonight. I will find out if we are being turned off or not for definate.

We had a visit from a Westmeath County Council Water Engineer. He is actually a nice man to deal with in person. The status of the estate is that it has not yet been taken charge of by the Council. Before the council take charge of the estate, the builder will have to rectify the awful job he did on the pipework. It will all have to be re-laid to regulation. If the builder fails to do this then the council have the builders bond. This money will be used by the council to rectify all problems with the pipework.

As for how fast after the thaw this will happen I am not confident that it will be soon. I think that every resident will need to get on the the residents association and use a joint voice to get the work done so no-one has to face this again next winter.

It seems that anyone who has bought their house within the last ten years should still have a homebond or similar on their house. Either the builder if not yet taken over by the council, or the council are responsible for relaying pipes once the weather warms up enough to do so.

In the mean time, I hope all all of you with no water can find some sort of short term solution. If your neighbour has water; see if you can do the same as we have. It has truely been a lifesaver to us.

If I find out anythin else, or any other solutions, I will post them.

strange that i'm in clibborne way, spitting distance from you and have not had a single problem.

Ciar0468

My neighbours on either side have not had a problem with water either. I think its to do with the depth of pipes. Houses here have been loosing water in different stages. I think the first was christmas day. Other houses have been freezing as it gets colder since then.

I dont know why I was told by the water office that Ard Grainne was being turned off at ight if we are not. We could of sorted our water problem a lot sooner if we had of known this.

But the good news is, if we can get our pipes thawed out, we should be able to leave them dripping overnight.

It seems tat we have water all night in Ard Grainne now. I checked after 11pm and it was still on.

As for athlone area, I would try the Athlone town council and see if they can advise you. 09064-42100

tubos

cchacko wrote: »

hi i stay in woodville athlone westmeath, no water here it is frozen for a few days causing us lot of trouble r there any emergency number of people who can fix this problem in the athlone area

in woodville not everybody is without water. if you need some water give me a pm and I can help you out.

cchacko

I heard the town council will lay outside taps in woodville.that is a good initiative will alleviate of some of our problems , hope it is done early

tubos

I spoke too soon, my water is gone today :mad:

crodaz

Sunday 10th January 2010.
I'm a resident in Kinnegad and our Estate has been built within the last 7 years. As with many people on this thread our water gets turned off most evenings. Today according to the Westmeath CC water was turned on at 8am and should reach all houses by 10am. Our water did not come on. I find it hard to believe that the supply has frozen and that is why we don't have water. If the pipes have been laid to the correct depth then there should be no freezing of the supply (I'll be contacting someone to check this depth). At my house the outside temp is 3 degrees and falling (Checked at 3pm). I have tried heating the pipes using a blow torch and also putting a blow heater at the pipes for a few hours but I don't believe that this is the problem since it hasn't cleared. Westmeath CC have put in a water standpipe opposite the Hilimar Hotel on the main street. I hear of many people being without water for many days even weeks. Why don't we have water?

Garth

The problem is most of the new estates have the pipes down half as deep as they should be, so turning the water off at night has had the effect of helping the pipes freeze.

Measure how deep your pipes are. They should be 750mm or 29 inches down.

cchacko

We got taps outside woodville (Woodville Green) was open till 6:00 pm Jan 11 for filling containers with water.

Cpt Beefheart

Ciar0468 said 750mm is the minimum depth. I would be interested in hearing how you go about getting someone to check the depth and if it is not in compliance with 750 minimum requirement, what do you do next. Our estate hasn't been handed over to the council yet and as far as I know our developer is still in business. We are getting our tanks filled thanks to some very hard work being put in by the residents association.

Themadhouse

If you open up the hatch on the path outside where your stopcock is you will be able to put a tape down to the pipe and see what the dept is.
The council should have checked the depth at this point before attaching it to the mains.

Saruman

Rochfortbridge here, water has been on and off since before New year but NONE since Friday. It is crazy, the whole estate and at least the next one is affected and possibly most of the town.

tubos

cchacko wrote: »

I am sorry this info might be wrong , didn't see any taps after coming from office.
while going to office , heard people say they are putting taps

There was a guy from the county council parked along Woodville Green and was filling bottles or containers for people from the hydrant, he was there until 6 o'clock. I only noticed him as somebody was getting containers filled at the time.

tubos

cchacko wrote: »

I am sorry this info might be wrong , didn't see any taps after coming from office.
while going to office , heard people say they are putting taps

There was a guy from the county council parked along Woodville Green and was filling bottles or containers for people from the hydrant, he was there until 6 o'clock. I only noticed him as somebody was getting containers filled at the time.

mandz

Did anyone hear the discussion on Joe Duffy's show last week?? It appears that Westmeath County Council never bothered checking the pipes themselves before connecting water supplies they relied on a "certificate" from the builder or the management company of the development. Didn't hear it myself but was told about it yesterday.

Saint_Mel

mandz wrote: »

Did anyone hear the discussion on Joe Duffy's show last week?? It appears that Westmeath County Council never bothered checking the pipes themselves before connecting water supplies they relied on a "certificate" from the builder or the management company of the development. Didn't hear it myself but was told about it yesterday.

Wouldnt be a bit surprised to be honest as theres no way in the world that the pipes going into my house are anywhere near deep enough ... and my house was build by the cast of Bonanza so a certificate given by them wouldnt be worth the paper its printed on

Lynfo

Hi all, I'm in Killucan and our water, like many others, has been switched off every night since around Christmas Eve. Yesterday, it didn't come back on so we're obviously frozen somewhere as neighbours have water. Can't find the stopcock under the snow to check it and council are no help whatsoever.

Surely it's their responsibility to sort this out for everybody? I've a 7 month old in the house who simply can't go without water ffs. Thanks to a lovely neighbour we were able to fill our tanks from her outside tap last night. I'm hoping against hope - probably in vain - that when I get home from work it'll be back.

damiendar

Just got a knock on the door from Civil defence people to see if i had water .. havnt had water for 4 days now but at least they came eventually , Then the funny part after i told them i was getting water from the standpipe they asked me where the standpipe was I just laughed :rolleyes: I had no problems with t he water until the westmeath CC started to turn off the water at night , next night it froze I blame the CC for the lack of water, also when I rang them the other day to ask if it was shut off or frozen they said they had no reports of any water loss in the Ardleigh est. I dont like calling people liars but when there is an open stand pipe and people Q in the cold for water in ardleigh its hard to believe that no one at some point phoned them to ask about the water...

Day 4 No water...... and there are some worse off.. What a great country just aswell we dont live somewhere that is really cold.:mad:

tubos

Saint_Mel wrote: »

and my house was build by the cast of Bonanza so a certificate given by them wouldnt be worth the paper its printed on

PMSL

outeverynite

The Co Co were round with their tanker there today and I got bottles filled with water...."DAY16" now without water...

They were saying to try and fill good quality black plastic bags (of which they gave me two of) and put bag down manhole, fill this with hot water so the bag envelopes itself round the stopcock...leave for about 20 mins and repeat again and again if needed...they said they got one of the neighbours houses back running with this method...I'm gonna try this tomorrow when it's bright...I doubt it's gonna work with mine as I'm so long without water and ground is still ice cold...but it may work for some of you out there.

luap_42

Garth wrote: »

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

You should have no problem with your heating system. It should be water contained in a closed circuit, unaffected by loss of mains or internal water tank.

Themadhouse

luap_42 wrote: »

You should have no problem with your heating system. It should be water contained in a closed circuit, unaffected by loss of mains or internal water tank.

The system lost pressure over night on xmas eve and as there is no water coming from the mains we cannot pump it up. The gas system relys on water from the mains. Most people that i have spoken to who have gas heating lose their heating over night with the water being turned off.

Garth

Day 16 here too, I think. I'm losing count.

Tanker isn't the council, it's Civil Defence, and thank God for them.

The council are so incredibly useless. No reports of water issues in Ardleigh? We've reported it to them in person at least 3 times, in the council offices. And that was ages ago.

I am so sick of this bull. The council should have checked the pipes before connecting to the mains. All we've had since Xmas day is the council failing us at every turn. At least the weather forecast is positive. Hoping for water by the end of the week, and if the council think they're going to turn my water off after I get it back, they have several other thoughts coming.