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[article] Vartry Water Tunnel under threat of collapse

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  • 30-12-2010 4:54pm
    #1
    mike65
    Closed Accounts Posts: 88,978 ✭✭✭✭


    Irish Times article

    http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/1230/1224286488533.html
    MORE THAN 150,000 homes in Dublin and Wicklow could be left without guaranteed drinking water “for years” if an unstable 19th century water tunnel collapses, Dublin City Council has said.

    The Vartry water tunnel, which runs through the Wicklow Mountains, “could suffer a partial or total collapse at any point in time,” the council said.

    However, it said it would not be in a position to build a replacement tunnel until 2013 – if government finances were available at that time.

    The 4km-long tunnel was constructed in the 1860s to bring drinking water to Dublin through a rock-lined passage bored through the Wicklow Mountains. Its daily flow of 80 million litres represents about 20 per cent of the total of the water supply to the greater Dublin area.

    Failure of the tunnel would lead to the loss of water supply to vast areas of south Dublin-north Wicklow, much of which cannot be serviced, even on a temporary basis, by any alternative Dublin supply source, the council said.

    Yikes, billions blown on bad banks and no water for over 100,000 people if the worst happens.


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