Madam, – When our water was cut off recently I had a little grumble but then got to thinking more deeply. Millions of people around the world would consider our “emergency” provision of bottled water and tankers an unimaginable luxury. So when the water came back on, I went and made an online contribution to the charity Wateraid.
I wondered whether those of your readers who have suffered water deprivation and who can afford it might consider doing the same. I have no connection with Wateraid, other than as a regular contributor, but it provides clean, safe water to communities who otherwise would have no access to it. Recent events have made thousands of us realise how dependent we are on our water supplies and contributing to Wateraid would mean much good could thus come from a bad situation. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I wish to comment on one aspect of disruptions to water supplies which does not seem to be receiving due attention. I refer to protection against frost. Current Irish building regulations state that “the cistern, service pipe and fittings and any associated cold water pipes should be adequately protected against frost”. The Irish building regulations are silent as to what is meant by “adequately protected”, but I can recall after a long life spent at water supply and roads, in three local authorities, and before that with consulting engineers, that the minimum depth to protect against frost was 2 feet, 6 inches or 750mm. This fact is still confirmed in four of the most modern and reliable text books which I have in my possession, three from the UK and one from UL.
Despite this, the practice seems to have crept in – throughout at least one local authority area, in recent years, of replacing old stopcocks (at old-fashioned 750mm depths or so) with new fittings. These new fittings have an aluminium-type cover and frame at ground level, with a plastic cylinder extending underground for depths varying from 5 inches to 12 inches. These depths are the depths to a temporary short pipe within the cylinder connecting the public supply to the house connection. There is no further protection apart from a disc of polystyrene which absorbs rain water and then freezes. Needless to say, the rest of the cold water service into the house then freezes, often for many days.
I don’t know what is going on, but it seems to me that someone is trying to get ready for water meter installation on the cheap. I can certainly say that these new “contraptions” have caused extreme hardship to many people, especially the elderly, including widows, during the intense cold of last winter and of recent weeks.
I would like to draw attention to this bad practice and to find out if it is spreading. I should add that I am strongly in favour of water metering, on a fair basis. The place for water meters is within the house, such as on the kitchen rising main. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Where was the Minister for the Environment at the height of the water supply chaos? His fellow Minister, Ciarán Cuffe promised €25 million to the Climate Change Commission, recently in Cancún. Money which would be much better spent in sorting our water supply infrastructure. – Yours, etc,