THE BOARD of Northern Ireland Water met last night amid speculation that the resignation of its chief executive, Laurence MacKenzie, was imminent.
Mr MacKenzie’s position was believed to be untenable because of the mishandling of the North’s water crisis that left 40,000 householders in Northern Ireland without water over Christmas.
Northern Ireland Water met on Tuesday to consider the situation and met again yesterday amid reports that Mr MacKenzie was preparing to stand down. Yesterday’s meeting was understood to be concerned with agreeing a severance package for the beleaguered chief executive.
Minister for Regional Development Conor Murphy announced an investigation into the Christmas water crisis. He is to propose at today’s meeting of the Northern Executive that the external review be conducted by the Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation.
Mr Murphy said he was advised that the earliest the regulator could report would be the end of February.
There were continuing calls yesterday for Mr Murphy to resign from, among others, DUP MP Gregory Campbell and Ulster Unionist Assembly member for North Belfast Fred Cobain.
Mr Cobain is today chairing a meeting of the Regional Development Assembly committee at Stormont, which is examining why the water problems were so severe.
Sinn Féin Assembly member Carál Ní Chuilín said there was no question of Mr Murphy resigning and that the party was fully behind the minister. “Mr MacKenzie is responsible for the operations of NIW, operations which failed to deal with the recent thaw. His company fell well below the standards expected by the public,” she said.
NI Water said earlier yesterday that there were no properties yesterday that were without supply. It said there were 33 properties that had intermittent supply due to low pressure on high ground. It again appealed to businesses and householders to check premises for any damage to pipes.
Water restrictions are set to continue in the greater Dublin area tonight, while repair work and restoration of reservoir levels is ongoing in many other counties, including Clare, Galway, Laois, and Sligo.
In Co Limerick, instructions to boil water which have been in place in some areas since before Christmas remain in force, while water rationing continues in parts of the county.
While some gains have been made in Dublin’s reservoir levels over recent days, a major hurdle is expected on Monday, when schools reopen after the Christmas holidays.
Dublin City Council, which is the lead water authority for Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow, expects significant pressure on supply and is hoping to add 100 million litres of water to its reserve over the next few days.
Senior engineer Brian McKeown said the council needs roughly another 100 million litres in storage. He said reserves were currently about 900 million litres but needed to reach above a billion litres. As a result, overnight restrictions will take place tonight and likely continue over the weekend.
In Wicklow, the council said there was still a shortage of water and restrictions were likely to continue for several days. Cork city council said it was happy to announce an end to night-time restrictions for water supplies.