Crews working to restore water supply to areas impacted by Storm Bert in Newcastle West, Ballingarry and Castlemahon

Uisce Éireann is working to address supply interruptions to customers as a result of the impacts of Storm Bert on water treatment infrastructure in Limerick. Our priority is the provision of clean safe drinking water to communities and the safety of water services staff who work to make that happen.

The communities of Newcastle West, Ballingarry and Castlemahon, have experienced water supply issues due to poor raw water quality from storm flooding. The turbidity of the incoming water for treatment remains high. For this reason, the treatment plant has shutdown. Reservoirs in the area are now depleted meaning customers in these areas are being impacted by an unplanned interruption to the water supply. Uisce Éireann is working to restore the water supply as quickly as possible to impacted customers.

Duane O'Brien, Operations Lead with Uisce Éireann said, “Customers in Newcastle West, Ballingarry and Castlemahon and wider areas will be impacted by reduced water pressure and water outages. We understand how disruptive unplanned outages are and we regret the inconvenience caused. Alternative Water Supplies are being deployed and will be in place later this evening at The Square, Newcastle West and at Woodfield Park across from the Regional Athletics Hub on the Cork Road. Customers are reminded to use their own containers when taking water from tankers and to boil water before consumption as a precautionary measure.

“As per best practice, most homes and businesses will have on-site water storage to provide a backup source of water for sanitation purposes. Following return of supply, it typically takes two to three hours for normal supply to fully be restored to all areas as the water refills the network, especially for those on higher ground or at the end of the network”.  

Vulnerable customers who have registered with Uisce Éireann receive direct communications from us for planned and unplanned outages lasting more than four hours. The Uisce Éireann customer care helpline is open 24/7 on 1800 278 278 and customers can also contact us on Twitter @IWCare with any queries. For updates, please see the Water Supply updates section.