Cavan County Council Water Service statement

The country experienced an unprecedented weather event in December 2010. It was the coldest December on record with temperatures as low as -18C recorded in Cavan and daytime temperatures not rising above freezing. This period of severe weather lasted for a prolonged period with the result that there was deep frost penetration into the ground. During this period the council reservoirs remained full but there was a noticeable increase in demand – due mainly to consumers leaving taps running at night. Some consumers lost water due to frozen connections. On St. Stephen's day the thaw began. Virtually every house in Cavan experienced some problem with burst pipes, frozen tanks in attics, outside toilets or taps. The council activated its Incident Response Plan on Monday, December 27. At this stage every town in the county had water shortages. Leak detection had started on December 26. On December 27 further leak detectors from two local firms, McBreen Environmental, Cavan and P&S from Stradone, were employed. Because of the widespread nature of the problem all water services staff, with the help of road staff, were involved in looking for leaks. Reservoirs at this time had little or no water in them. Water was being restricted and towns like Virginia only received supplies for six to eight hours a day. Water tankers were deployed to the worst affected areas. Repair crews were fixing leaks as they were located. By new year's eve most towns were back to normal supply with the exception of Cavan town, Cootehill and Ballyconnell, where disruption to supply was still occurring. Frozen stopcocks were still being found on new year's day. The vast majority of the leaks were on service connections to houses. To date only one leak was detected on the mains in Cavan town but some 200 leaks were detected on private property. Communication is always an issue at a time like this. From December 27, council staff were called from their holidays to answer phones, the council website was updated daily, and more often, as information came to hand. The local radio station and papers were updated on a daily basis. The water situation has now stabilised throughout the county and water is available to all consumers at all times. Further work is required to bring consumption back to pre-December levels. Leak detection teams will continue to work at night time to identify leaks. The council would like to thank all those who repaired leaks in a timely manner, all those that reported leaks and to all for their patience during the last fortnight. The weather event experienced in December brought to the fore how precious a resource water is and how essential it is to daily lives. The council has a water awareness programme on waterwise.ie or the national website taptips.ie is informative on how to manage and conserve this precious resource.