Madam, – 2010 has not been a good year, no argument among your readers there. But the confirmation that Ireland is really embracing third-world status comes with the extraordinary vision of a senior Dublin City Council official on RTÉ Six One News telling us that the water will be cut off from maybe 6pm to 10 or noon the following morning, no exact timing given. No exact or even approximate date of when this rationing will stop. Above all, absolutely no apologies from an official that I am sure I reward well for his efforts.
What about us – the customers? We seem to be dismissed as naughty children who have to learn. Why weren’t the 800 kilometres of faulty pipes he mentions repaired long before this? Why isn’t someone asked to resign over this gross mismanagement of our water – something I always thought we had in abundance in Ireland. Why can’t I have precise times? If you check the Dublin City Council website, it isn’t that clear. I have people coming to dinner tomorrow and I have to tell them not to flush the loo, have a shower or even ask for a glass of water after 6pm. When I worked in Zambia things were much better. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – This is the second time in 12 months that major water curtailment has been implemented to save supplies being lost through burst pipes. What an unnecessary waste of precious resources.
Why has not the Government initiated a major education campaign, possibly funded by the insurance companies, to make the public aware of what one does when temperatures go below minus 10 degrees? Should it not make people aware that: 1. They should turn their mains water off if even going away for one day? 2. Heating needs to be kept at a high level at all times even during short periods of unoccupancy? 3. Someone needs to be present at all times in the property/business premises during the thaw?
Why is it so difficult to turn off water? In large parts of the country there is no shut-off valve under the sink, but instead an extremely inaccessible valve (which may be buried under snow) which needs a specialist key.
The proposed installation of water meters will help this process as all will then have an accessible user-friendly valve. Should we not see this as an opportunity to initiate a countrywide campaign to re-bury these pipes, so poorly laid during the Celtic Tiger period, to the proper depth and end all this unnecessary deprivation and hardship? Let’s see some leadership at last. – Yours, etc,