TWO COUNCILLORS have voiced their concerns to this newspaper following a private meeting between Wexford Municipal District Council and representatives of Irish Water.
Cllr. Anthony Kelly welcomed Irish Water’s agreement to meet the Bishopswater residents’ committee but remained insistent that they should step down from their position calling on home owners to pay for the replacement of interior lead piping within their houses.
He remarked: “”I welcome Irish Waters decision to meet with the Residents Association after consistent calls from myself and my Sinn Féin colleagues and would now call upon them to set a an exact date for this meeting as soon as possible. The problem of lead in the public water supply in this area must be resolved without any cost to the homeowners. Anything else cannot be tolerated.”
Cllr. Davy Hynes said that he was concerned about the company’s solution, or lack thereof to the problem of lead in the water at Bishopswater and possibly in other town locations too.
While he said there were only a few places that are said to have a serious lead problem he was concerned that only “random checks” are expected to be carried out by the company and that they seem unwilling to pay for new pipes to solve the problem
“It’s not the people’s problem. It was the council who put in these pipes, some back in the 1960s, and it’s a national problem. The thing is, Irish Water are not prepared to pay to renew the pipes but as several of us pointed out, they’re asking us to pay for our water through those pipes. If I bought a bottle of water and there was lime in, I’d be going back to the company with it fairly quickly.”
[Full story in this week’s Echo]