Water supply remains a concern in Wexford village as Uisce Éireann urged to address ‘critical areas first’

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Concerns regarding water supply in a part of Co Wexford which has been beset by outages in the past have been addressed by Fine Gael councillor Robbie Staples. While recent upgrades have improved water supply in the Castlebridge, Curracloe, and Screen area, some residents continue to experience outages with many reporting issues during the recent Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in neighbouring Wexford town.

Such are the legacy issues in the area that a recent application to develop 35 new houses in the area has been appealed to the national planning authority, An Coimisiún Pleanála. In their appeal, the appellants cited the water infrastructure and how the arrival of 35 new households would place further strain on the system.

“Will adding a further 35 houses with the potential for a further phase add to the problem?” they asked. “There have been numerous occasions in the past and particularly in recent times, that current residents have been without any water supply with no prior notice or warnings.

“This has become a reality for current residents on an alarmingly regular basis. These are genuine concerns as at increasingly frequent times, current residents cannot use the shower, dishwasher or washing machine due to the lack of water pressure."

Accepting that issues remain with the area’s water supply, Cllr Staples said the situation in Castlebridge had improved in recent years but that additional works were required to “meet the demand for housing and population growth”.

Noting that much of Ireland’s wastewater infrastructure was “developed in the mid-to-late 20th century” and that many systems are “now outdated and under strain”, Cllr Staples said delays in upgrading critical infrastructure have led to “vulnerabilities in water supply and treatment”.

“Many private group water schemes in rural areas have historically failed to meet EU standards, especially for microbiological safety,” he continued. “And smaller communities often lack the funding or scale to support modern treatment facilities.

“In addition, decades of insufficient funding and fragmented management have left the system outdated. For example, in 2015 Ireland was losing an estimated 800 million litres of water per day to leaks.”

With Uisce Éireann currently upgrading treatment plants across Co Wexford, Cllr Staples has urged it to allocate resources to the “most critical areas first”, including parts of the county which have experienced frequent outages in the past.