Latest: Irish Water hoping to restore service in Kerry later today
Irish Water said it is hoping to restore water services in Listowel and surrounding areas later today.
Around 4,000 local residents have been left dry since a pump failed at the Listowel Treatment Plant.
“Repairs were successfully completed during the night on one pump serving the Listowel Regional Water Treatment Plant, and it began pumping water to the plant at about 12.15am,” a statement from Irish Water read.
“Water is now being pumped to the treatment plant and on the basis that the reservoirs are being refilled, we expect that water will slowly return to homes and businesses across the impacted areas in Listowel, Tarbet, Moyvane, Knockanure, Lisselton, Finuge, Lixnaw and surrounding areas during today.
“Senior officials from Irish Water and Kerry County Council will continue to monitor the situation closely as water supply returns to homes and businesses.
“Work will continue on implementing a back-up pumping system so that we have the necessary resilience in place for securing the supply. We will be implementing a full replacement of these pumps as part of an upgrade programme and the timing of this replacement is being reviewed by Irish Water following this incident.
“Irish Water and Kerry County Council thank the Civil Defence for their assistance throughout the outage as they distributed bottled water to vulnerable customers and assisted with the distribution of information leaflets to homes and businesses.
“Alternative water supplies were diverted to the local hospital, nursing homes and where possible to other businesses in the area.”
The statement adds: “Irish Water and Kerry County Council apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused and thank them for their patience while crews worked to repair the pump. Customers can contact our customer care helpline 24/7 on 1850 278 278 or visit www.water.ie for further updates.”
#IWKerry: Update – If affected by the Pump issue in Listowel & surrounds. For Water tanker locations please see https://t.co/fbFWqKA2VS.
— Uisce Éireann Care (@IWCare) September 3, 2017
Water service will not return to parts of Kerry until tomorrow at the earliest, according to a local Councillor.
"One of the pumps has been rebuilt at a repair place in Mallow yesterday, and actually was brought down to Listowel yesterday evening," said Listowel Councillor Aoife Thornton.
"They hope to make it operational as soon as possible, but even if it is operational early this morning, the water outage will continue for today because it will have to be a gradual, as I understand it, feedback of the water supply."
Repair works are underway in Kerry after 4,000 people were left without water.
A pump failed at Listowel Regional Water Treatment Plant over the weekend, disrupting water supply to residents in Listowel, Tarbert, Moyvane, Knockanure, Lisselton, Finuge, Lixnaw and surrounding areas.
The broken pump has been rebuilt and arrived on site last night - however it is not yet known how soon supply will be restored.
Water tankers have been deployed in Listowel and surrounding areas and will remain in place until repair works are completed.
- Listowel – The Square and car park at Kerry County Council offices
- Lisselton – Car Park at Lisselton Cross
- Lixnaw – Church Car Park
- Knockanure – Church Car Park
- Finuge – Car Park at GAA Grounds
- Moyvane – Church Car Park
