Galway water supply restored

GALWAY CITY Council says it is confident that water supplies have been restored to the west of the city and part of the county after cuts affected up to 20,000 people.

A combination of factors led to a reservoir which supplies the largest residential area of the city almost running dry last week.

Initial tests of resumed supply show no evidence of e.coli or other contaminants, the city council says. However, results for tests on parasites like cryptosporidium, which contributed to last year's crisis in the city, are still awaited.

The problems which resulted in water tankers being mobilised on Friday began early last week, when several local outages of electricity supply affected pumping from Terryland waterworks to a reservoir at Tonabrucky.

Galway City Council director of services Ciarán Hayes said several mains leaks were detected in Knocknacarra. Then a more serious problem emerged, when it appeared that water was not reaching the Clifton Hill reservoir.

Using sound equipment, engineers discovered a faulty valve was diverting water back to Terryland. The priority then was to ensure that the city's main hospital was not affected, he said.

The faulty valve was shut off on Friday and reservoir levels recovered sufficiently on Friday night to allow supply to be resumed.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times