Water situation Tullamore?

Cherrycola

Have the council turned off the water or is our mains still frozen??

All our other pipes have defrosted since Stephens day, but we still have no mains water.

No one is answering the 'Emergency' number, :rolleyes: so we cant find out whats going on. That number is 1890 750 750 for anyone who's interested.
And here's the generic statement from the council

http://www.offaly.ie/eng/

no indications of where water may be turned off of course. :rolleyes:

Jaysus im so over this now, i need a decent frikkin shower!!!!:mad::mad:

Cherrycola

And just listening to Midlands103 news there, no mention whatsoever about the water situation in Offaly, Laois or Westmeath! :eek: All they reported on was Kildare!
FFS!:mad:

A bit of communication from the councils wouldnt go astray now! :rolleyes:

Storminateacup

So, no proper shower since the eve of xmas eve. No water completely since xmas day. I AM CRACKING UP. I'm going mad. I cannot deal with this no water situation any longer. I feel dirty. My house feels unclean. Everything feels wrong.

Cherrycola

Storminateacup wrote: »

So, no proper shower since the eve of xmas eve. No water completely since xmas day. I AM CRACKING UP. I'm going mad. I cannot deal with this no water situation any longer. I feel dirty. My house feels unclean. Everything feels wrong.

Our situation exactly, the water went on the 23rd, the house is rotten, we're rotten, im running out of clean underwear, my head is WRECKED!!!!!:mad::mad:

Although, a bit of good news, hubby thought he heard water running in the attic early this morning, and he's just been up to check and our tanks are full, so the water must have come back during the night, so everything must be defrosted at least, and its just the bloody council who have switched it off either to fix leaks or conserve water....i suspect the latter. :rolleyes:

Seriously, water shortages in Ireland, what a joke! :rolleyes:

kimberworth

In laws went to Cloncollig to get water from Council tanker. Man there told them that Clonaslee reservoir is empty!!!!? Also there is a major leak from burst pipe beside Bridge House. Looks like the in laws will be coming to stay with us for a while!!

Cherrycola

We're not even on the Clonaslee reservoir, Arden side is on that crappy lime-filled Durrow/Sillogue well water, so i wonder what the excuse is for no water here?

offaly1

kimberworth wrote: »

In laws went to Cloncollig to get water from Council tanker. Man there told them that Clonaslee reservoir is empty!!!!? Also there is a major leak from burst pipe beside Bridge House. Looks like the in laws will be coming to stay with us for a while!!

Great I think im on clonaslee reservoir... delightful........ :mad:

For a country with so much rain, its hilarious that we now have shortages!!!!

lenoude

i'm on the clonaslee supply in tullamore, the water pressure has gone down a good bit and theres , well what looks like soil settling in the glass. was getting annoyed at myself last night because any time i was smoking i thought it was me putting cigarette ash in the water, several times in a row lol

Storminateacup

My father is on the durrow side and when he rang the council yesterday, he was told that they had to switch off our side because clonaslee res. was empty and i think they're trying to run the durrow water over there too. thats my understanding of it.

LizT

Rang the council and they said we're getting our water from Clominch and every time they turn it on, there's another leak so they have to turn it off again.
We haven't had water for over a week, it started to come back today but the water pressure is really really low.

Cherrycola

I think they've switched Arden side of town back to the Clonaslee water cos it definitely doesnt seem as limey as it normally does, and my skin isnt dry as a bone! Oh if only this could last forever! Probably all in my head though....same ****ty water, just the excitement of having it back is clouding my judgement!

magentas

hey guys, just saw this thread now and I know most of ye are talking about the council but my dad used to work with a private water scheme and he was asked to help them out over the Christmas because of the weather problems.
He was out trying to fix burst pipes etc. from 7.30am on Christmas Eve and he didn't get home til 9pm that night, he got to relax Christmas day, did a few hours Stephens day, then back doing crazy hours since.

He runs his own business now but things are extremely quiet so he was grateful to get the hours TBH! but it's tough work and lots of people were giving him grief

was on the phone to him tonight and he's been crazy busy all week, I felt so sorry for him, he's exhausted:(

our water (in galway city) was gone for about 35hours and it was awful so I can only imagine what it's like to go without it for days on end

crunchi

Hi

I appreciate the fact that many people have been out working on this situation but the fact remains that we are being told little to nothing about this on radio, news etc. In the north there are updates every hour and every man and his dog seem to be commenting on how its a disgrace and they are going to take steps so that it doesnt happen again....... . Here in Tullamore we havent had mains water since the 23rd and are still being told to wait for the thaw?? Its plain insulting at this stage.:mad::(:confused:

magentas

It must be pretty frustrating alright and I genuinely feel sorry for anyone that is without water, the council should be able to make a proper statement on it and keep people updated on at least a daily basis IMO

hope everyone gets sorted soon

Cherrycola

yes, its the lack of information that is frustrating people the most now, water is being turned off outside individual houses due to burst stopcocks, without even the decency to let the residents inside know whats happening, and why their water has suddenly disappeared again.:mad:

Its a joke at this stage!

And while i fully appreciate how hard your father is working magentas, to be fair, he's not doing it out of the good of his heart, im sure he is being well paid for the hours he's putting in, as are all the people involved.

You do say he got to relax on Christmas day, which is great, truely deserved, but we on the other hand didnt, we were lugging containers of water between ours and our elderly neighbours houses all day long. Fun. :rolleyes:
And after a week or more of that, to still have no information from the council as to whether the water was switched off by them or we were still frozen was pathetic!
I got all my updates from Facebook, and not the councils facebook page either, if they even have one! :rolleyes:
How easy would it have been to set up a twitter page or facebook page and keep it updated? Cos their website was a joke!:mad:

crunchi

Am still without water, called council and had to repeatedly give details to different people, managed to speak to one guy yesterday who was on our estate and was told water would be back today at the latest.......still waiting.:mad:
They came this morning, pulled up the cover that has the little keyhole on it, replaced something and sprayed green paint on it before driving off without so much as "is the water back in your house". No water coming into attic tank and no water in cold kitchen tap,day 14. :mad::mad:

Cherrycola

Did they spray a green X or a green dot?

A green X means you have a leak and your water has been switched off, the green dot im not too sure about, as some houses have them, some dont, i presumed it meant the stopcock was checked and ok, but who knows.

Chances are they have replaced the stopcock/meter, and switched your water back on again, but you should have water coming into your kitchen tap if they did, there could be airlocks preventing water coming back in other areas of the house, but the mains rarely gets airlocked cos of the pressure behind it.

Might be worth getting a plumber out at this stage or god knows how long more the council will leave you waiting.

Midlander1

Council members in Tullamore have publicy said that lime/silt in the Durrow supply is not dangerous for human consumption. Who the hell do they think they are kidding. It's undrinkable and you can't wash your hair with it either. My fecking electric kettle went before Christmas and now my washing machine has packed in. If ANY of these chancers they call "counsellors" come knocking on my door I will beat the head off them with my now useless kettle.

crunchi

I'll be of the same mind but for different reasons as I havent had any water at all. Cherrycola they put a green X on it and mentioned meter to me yesterday......:( unbelievable. Nobody contacted me today to inform me there was a problem or when it would or could be fixed. Didnt contact a plumber because I thought he would say its a mains issue and so not something he could fix at this stage?

Cherrycola

Exact same happened to us, they marked it with a green X as it was leaking, turned off the water, to help save their water supply, and then f*cked off! :mad::mad:

They then washed their hands of the repair, claiming it was up to us to have the meter fixed, even though its their property! Apparently anything from the stopcock to the door is our problem.

If i was you i would go out and turn the water on again, and keep doing that until they come to repair it! the water leak is not your problem, they are the ones trying to save water, if its such an issue then they will get off their holes and fix it!:mad:

We were lucky enough to flag down a maintenance man from the developers who was going around the estate replacing the meters.

God help anyone who comes here talking about water rates in the future, they are going to get run off the property!

And dont even get me started on the sh*tty lime water from Durrow, i could go on for days on that subject! But im too busy scratching my bone dry skin and descaling the kettle, to be able to take the time to type!!!:mad:

crunchi

Finally, Finally something happened after three more phone calls. Man called said there was a big issue with pipes in a number of houses, :rolleyes: but then turned something on in a near by sluice valve??? could somebody have forgotten to turn it back on at some stage??? To be honest I don't know but water is now entering the building and attic tank, it is an unbelievable feeling :)but so so annoyed that it takes this long to solve this issue in 2011.:mad: Great to have a bit of support though, thanks!:)

magentas

Cherrycola wrote: »

And while i fully appreciate how hard your father is working magentas, to be fair, he's not doing it out of the good of his heart, im sure he is being well paid for the hours he's putting in, as are all the people involved.

You do say he got to relax on Christmas day, which is great, truely deserved, but we on the other hand didnt, we were lugging containers of water between ours and our elderly neighbours houses all day long. Fun. :rolleyes:

wow I think that's a very unfair statement.

A) yes he is doing it out of the goodness of his heart, he hasn't worked on the scheme in years and they begged him to help them out, he could have refused and it's not easy work standing out in that weather for hours on end each day getting wet and cold but as he said himself he'd hate to see anyone without water at Christmas

B)yes he is been paid, do you expect him to do it for free?
I certainly wouldn't say well paid by any means. he is not greedy and while of course he appreciates the bit of work, it was very hard work and TBH I know a lot of fellas that wouldn't have done it, especially with the grief he got and he's a quiet man that would go out of his way to help people so it's awful to think that people were mouthing at him for something that was essentially out of his control, ie. the bad weather=freezing temperatures=frozen/burst pipes

I do feel for yourself and others that have been without water, we were brought up to be very conservative with water and not to be wasteful, just goes to show how much we take things like this for granted.

Anyway, it's the council you appear to be getting your water from so my father would have nothing to do with that

there's still young kids in our house and my little brother was waiting up to see him Christmas eve before he went to bed, he was knackered and freezing cold having been outside for 13hours and you begrudge him relaxing and having Christmas day off?
A bit mean spirited IMO

Cherrycola

No one is begrudging anyone a day off, the point im making is that he CHOSE to do the hours and job he was doing, no one forced him to, and he was paid for his work.
We had no choice when our water was turned off.

You seem to be trying to imply that we all should be grateful to the council and others who were trying to get the water running again, when really all they were doing was their job, even if it was only during that emergency situation.

From my personal experience those who were supposedly doing that job over Christmas, were not doing it properly, the public were not informed what was happening right outside their own front doors, and in some cases were blatantly lied to about what exactly was going on.
Telling the public the truth and keeping them informed is not out of anyones control.
Turning off water into a house when all thats required is literally a 2 minute job to replace a meter is not out of anyones control either, thats a decision taken by the council.

And conserving water through the ages has nothing to do with why people were without water this christmas, we have always been mindful of not leaving taps running etc, yet this did not prevent us losing water, so i dont get what point you were trying to make by mentioning how eco friendly your household is?!

I also have a young child, who didnt get to spend time with her dad on Christmas eve as he was lugging water containers up and down the street all night too, he wasnt paid for it though, he did it out of the goodness of his heart.
:rolleyes:

So i see nothing unfair about my previous statement, but you seem to have chosen to take offence, so be it.

athlonelad

Cherrycola wrote: »

So i see nothing unfair about my previous statement, but you seem to have chosen to take offence, so be it.

RRRRRROAR..... Someone needs a cold shower!!!
LOL

magentas

cherrycola, as stated previously, my father has nothing to do with the council, if you read my FIRST post I said he was with a private water scheme.
so your comments on him are neither relevant nor justified

your neighbours must have had enough water to fill a swimming pool what with your husband "lugging water containers up and down the street all night" on Christmas eve and BOTH of you "lugging containers of water between ours and our elderly neighbours houses all day long" on Christmas day:rolleyes:

By your logic, a doctor working on Christmas day shouldn't expect any gratitude because they get paid for it!
or been a d!ck to a waitress and saying sure she's getting paid for what she does

There's a difference between expecting praise and hoping for a little gratitude, too much to ask from some people I suppose:(

LizT

*munches on popcorn* This is entertaining!

But seriously, we were without water for 9 days, it was horrible. It was bearable for the first few days but in all reality, it shouldn't take two weeks to sort out! I understand it's a big job but the co co's website just gave updates saying disruption was ongoing and they were doing their best to fix it, which I think most of us could have figured out for ourselves.

magentas

lizt wrote: »

*munches on popcorn* This is entertaining!

But seriously, we were without water for 9 days, it was horrible. It was bearable for the first few days but in all reality, it shouldn't take two weeks to sort out! I understand it's a big job but the co co's website just gave updates saying disruption was ongoing and they were doing their best to fix it, which I think most of us could have figured out for ourselves.

yeah the council have a fairly bad rep when it comes to work alright!:D
and as I said from the beginning they should have been able to provide regular updates, other county councils seemed to manage this much at least.

On a private water scheme the volume of customers is far less than those using council water and it's easy to get in direct contact with members of the scheme...dads phone was constantly going! but he was genuinely delighted when he got water going for people

I know in a situation like that not knowing is the worst, after the not having water of course! seriously though, I was only without water for 2days in galway city, I know a family of 5 in rural galway that were 14DAYS without water.

Is everyones water back now?

x-Sinners-x

I live in Coosan in Athlone, and my water never went? I think we were the only people in the whole area that still had our water? haha.. Rage :P

Dempo1

Looks like the situation has finally stabilized in Tullamore but my god, never saw anything like it in my life. My better half lives in Spollenstown wood and its been a disaster for almost two weeks. I had to transport water regularly from my place in Clonaslee as well as organize showers etc over the Christmas. Jesus, i live in the middle of no where, was originally on a group scheme and was only without water for 2 days (Mains frozen)

I am amazed that such a large town was crippled for so long. Another issue i was surprised at was the water systems installed at Spollenstown wood or should i say lack of. These are reasonably new houses with little or no water storage facilities. I am unsure of what system these houses have, i am assuming a pressurized system but essentially if the mains is off (and it was for days at a time), absolutely no water was being retained in these houses, not even enough to shower.

My own house has a massive water tank so at least i had days of supply. Perhaps others had this problem in Spollenstown wood but it was a nightmare, unable to flush toilets, shower, wash delph, turn on central heating etc.

I heard stories of other houses without water for almost three weeks!

God i hope the council or whomever have learned from this debacle!

Cherrycola

magentas wrote: »

cherrycola, as stated previously, my father has nothing to do with the council, if you read my FIRST post I said he was with a private water scheme.
so your comments on him are neither relevant nor justified

your neighbours must have had enough water to fill a swimming pool what with your husband "lugging water containers up and down the street all night" on Christmas eve and BOTH of you "lugging containers of water between ours and our elderly neighbours houses all day long" on Christmas day:rolleyes:

By your logic, a doctor working on Christmas day shouldn't expect any gratitude because they get paid for it!
or been a d!ck to a waitress and saying sure she's getting paid for what she does

There's a difference between expecting praise and hoping for a little gratitude, too much to ask from some people I suppose:(

Actually our water is a private water scheme, but the council were still involved in turning it off.

What you seem to be implying is that people should have been grateful that your father and others were DOING THEIR JOB! :rolleyes:
No one should expect gratitude for doing their job, regardless of what time of year it is!
If they get it, great, but expecting it is a bit much! :rolleyes: And coming on here whining "poor daddy had to work christmas eve cos of you nasty people with no water, and people were mad at him" is just a little bit.....childish. :rolleyes:
Again, he wasnt doing anyone any favours, he worked, he got paid, end of. If he didnt like the aggro he got, then he could easily have downed tools and headed home to his Christmas dinner.
We've all worked in jobs where customers/clients are asses, you suck it up and get on with it, and yes, some of us have even worked Christmas too love, so no points from me on that one, been there done that, its life.

And yes, my neighbours filled their swimming pool ten times over with the barrels of water we lugged up and down the street all week, thanks for asking!

And did we get any thanks??? Did we heck!!!! Nasty nasty people.......:(:rolleyes::rolleyes::P

Cherrycola

athlonelad wrote: »

RRRRRROAR..... Someone needs a cold shower!!!
LOL

Absolutely, but its not me! :P:P