Week of pipe bursts in Laois town left children, elderly and farms with no water

A week of waterpipe replacements in Stradbally caused multiple outages, leaving residents including children elderly and farmers with stock, without water.

Cllr Paschal McEvoy described the chaos at the February meeting of Laois County Council.

He said that while the leaks are fixed now by Irish Water, the process was “not fair” to residents.

“In most of 2022 there were bursts nearly weekly and since 2023 every week.

“Last Friday week a pipe burst and water was out over a day and a night.

“Then seven or eight pipes burst on the Main Street. I must have got 200 calls from people with no water.

“I know you can't forewarn if a pipe bursts. But you can't put in new piping on one end and expect old pipes on the other end to hold up.

“It was one full week of water shortages. It's just not fair. The amount it cost to repair them would replace almost all the pipes” he said.

Director of Services Simon Walton said a program of mains repairs by Irish Water in Stradbally and Abbeyleix is “putting pressure on the remaining system”.

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Cllr Willie Aird suggests a temporary water supply be on hand in case pipes burst, and Mr Walton said “I don't disagree”, but added it is an Irish Water issue, not for Laois County Council.