Bawnboy residents find water problem "hard" to solve

There is growing frustration among Bawnboy residents who continue to count the costs - amounting to thousands of euros - resulting from hard water in the local supply and the extensive damage caused to home-heating systems and appliances.

One cylinder, two water pumps, a shower unit and a myriad of pipework are among the items sitting outside the Cornagee home of Damien McKenna.
“That packed up within the space of three-to-four weeks because of limescale,” Damien tells The Anglo-Celt pointing to one of the two water pumps.
Faced with voided warranties and mounting bills, Damien is supporting calls by Cavan County Council on Irish Water to install a long-awaited water softener for the local system. The remedy, estimated to cost in the region of €30,000, was  first mooted several years ago, but has since fallen in terms of priority since the establishment of Irish Water.
Hardness in water is determined by the level of naturally occurring calcium and magnesium compounds in solution in local water sources. Source waters with a high calcium and magnesium content are considered to be hard, and those waters with a low content are considered to be soft.

'Not their problem'

“At the end of the day there are guarantees on all these products, but once you mention limescale, that's it! They just don't want to know, it's not their problem any more,” says Damien.
Along with more than €1,000 in home-heating parts sitting outside, and maintenance bills to boot, considerable damage was also done to the ceiling of his family home when a pipe, heavily congested with limescale, burst and flooded all below it.
“That was after just three-weeks after having had it replaced. It scaled up again,” says Damien. 'It's a waiting game now to see what the next thing will be that breaks and we'll either have to fix or replace it.”
He explains that the water hardening has worsened considerably in the past year. “I've lived here 17 years and I've never seen anything like this.”

At the recent monthly meeting of local elected members, Cllr Sean Smith (FF) echoed the frustrations of locals in the Bawnboy area, and his own.

“You feel like a real fool when you don't know where you are on something like this, or what you can do,” he said, adding that the cost of replacing only recently installed meters could have gone towards the purchasing  of a supply softener.
“People are angry, and understandably so. In this day and age they should be getting a good quality of water,” he said again calling for the Council to write to Irish Water on the issue.
His motion was supported by Chamber colleagues Damien Brady (SF), Winston Bennett (FG), and John Paul Feeley (FF).
Responding on behalf of the council executive, Director of Services Paddy Connaughton said he had “great sympathy” with residents affected, but that it remained an Irish Water “policy issue”, before offering to arrange a face-to-face meeting between councillors and company representatives.

 

In response to queries from the Anglo-Celt a spokesperson for Irish water stated 'It is Irish Water policy not to install systems to artificially soften water as part of the general water treatment process. The installation of water softening devices by the consumer, to treat that portion of the supply used by hot water appliances, is technically feasible and widely applied to improve the efficiency and life of domestic appliances. Such devices are available for domestic use in Ireland.'