Deputy Ged Nash has arranged a meeting for later this week between Dunleer residents and Irish Water in relation to recent problems at the Greenmount Water Treatment plant which have impacted on water supply to the Mid-Louth town.
He said: “Local residents are at the end of their tether. There have been several outages in recent months caused, according to Irish Water, by interventions the agency have had to make as a result of “elevated ammonia levels detected in the raw water source in the River Dee.”
“Local residents and I are anxious to get a clear explanation from Irish Water officials as to why this is happening again and again, and how they plan to deal with the issue if and when it arises in the future.
“Irish Water also needs to radically improve in terms of its communication with local residents who have put up with enough.
“We look forward to engaging with Irish Water next week on this issue of huge importance for Dunleer residents and businesses.”
The water supply problems have been ongoing in the Dunleer area since November and December of last year but, according to the utility company, the current issues at the plant started on Sunday 23 January due to the presence of elevated levels of ammonia in the River Dee.
“This caused operational issues at the plant which impacted production capacity” an Irish Water spokesperson said.
“When this happens a plant becomes reliant on reservoir reserves to supply an area until production is restored. In this instance production of treated water at Greenmount stopped a number of times due to ammonia levels impacting the treatment process preventing the reservoir from being replenished. Customers in Castlebellingham, Dunleer, Annagassan and surrounding areas would have experienced temporary disruptions including outages.
“Alternative water supplies were provided by Louth County Council in Kilsaran and Dunleer while works to resolve issues were underway. Raw water ammonia levels in the River Dee have now stabilised and the water treatment plant is fully operational and water supply to impacted areas has been fully restored.”
