Clare households without water; 'When I rang, Irish Water knew nothing,' says one woman

People in Parteen, claimed they were told the burst pipe would be fixed last Saturday, however they are still without water.

One elderly resident, who was helping a relative cope with the recent tragic loss of her daughter and husband, described the lack of water as "awful".

Brigid O'Neill, 73, said: "We haven't had water since last Saturday."

"When I rang Irish Water they said it would be fixed by 5pm that evening. We still don't have water," she said.

"They are quick enough to take my money out of my bank account by direct debit, but they're slow on this," she added.

Ms O'Neill, a mother of one living in the Fairyfield estate, claimed that after she contacted Irish Water about the problem, no one at the company seemed to know there was an issue.

"First of all the person on the phone didn't know what I was talking about. Then she told me I should have water back by 5pm," said Ms O'Neill.

"I believed her," she added.

Angry at what she said was a lack of communication from Irish Water, Ms O'Neill added: "I'll never believe them again."

"No one told us about it," she said.

"There are an awful lot of young families here with children and there are elderly people living here too. You must have the basics, like water," Ms O'Neill said.

Residents have been forced to fork out for bottled water for washing and cooking, and watering their flowers and filling toilets.

"You can't do anything without water...it's terrible," Ms O'Neill said.

Local firefighters have been helping residents by supplying water from a tanker for cooking and flushing toilets.

"Again, no one told me (the tanker) was coming," Ms O'Neill said.

Irish Water issued a notice on its website on June 20th stating a water mains had burst in the area.

It estimated repair works would conclude by 5pm that evening.

On June 21, Irish Water issued another notice that a tanker would supply water in Fairyfield from 11am-3pm on June 22.

Ms O'Neill said was not aware of the notices as she did not have access to the Internet.

In a statement Irish Water said it "is aware of a series of recent bursts in the Parteen area. Crews are on site there since this morning as repairs to the network are ongoing and updates will be provided as the work progresses."

"This is as a result of the poor condition of the network and Irish Water has approved the replacement of a section of water main in the area, which is intended to address the frequent nature of bursts and the inconvenience to residents."

"This work is scheduled to begin on 4 July."

A spokesperson for a irish Water said it was working to fix the problem as soon as possible.