East Mayo community want end to third world water supply

A COMMUNITY in east Mayo who are living with a third world water supply have said enough is enough.

Every day 20 families in Cleragh and Lisduff, just outside Kiltimagh, go with buckets to a roadside well for water.

They share the well, in Lisduff, with passing wildlife and the water isn't fit for human consumption without being boiled.

The irony that they can see the Kiltimagh water treatment plant and its water source - the Glore River - afew fields away from the well is not lost on them.

A campaign to get connected to the Kiltimagh scheme began 10 years ago and residents understood they'd be drinking fresh, clean water from their taps this summer.

That hasn't happened and they want to see firm action now to bring them a basic human right - clean water for their homes and farms.

Irish Water, when asked about plans to connect the Cleragh/Lisduff community group to the Kiltimagh supply, said permission to connect is not possible until an upgrade of the Kiltimagh water treatment plant is completed. The plant is currently operating at full capacity.

“Irish Water is currently evaluating the necessary works for the upgrade,” the utility added.

Funding for a scheme to service 30 houses was secured in 2018. Residents say they were recently told the scheme was not viable and expressed concern that the funding would be lost.

Community representatives met with Mayo County Council last week where those fears were allayed.

With the funding safe, they are now calling on Irish Water to work with the council so they can get pipes in the ground.

Residents want that funding - and they're each adding between €1,500 and €3,000 of their own money towards connections - spent now to put pipe infrastructure in place so they are in a position to connect to the Kiltimagh plant when it's upgraded.

EVERYDAY LIFE

The impossible situation facing families and farmers in their everyday lives has been spelt out clearly by residents.

Most homes have private wells but people don't drink the water as it has high levels of minerals and some shows traces of faecal matter from livestock.

The water has an oily feel, is brown in colour, has an odour and it stains baths and toilets.

Some of the wells frequently dry up during the summer compounding their problems.

Local resident Rowena O'Brien Gleeson said when everyone else is enjoying the summer sun, they're praying for rain. While people also harvest rain water, it can be insufficient to meet household needs.

Buying drinking water in the shops is expensive. Rowena, for example, loads her car with containers to fill up at family living in the area, which is an inconvenience.

She has found herself asking family members not to visit as they can't cater for increased numbers in the house when the well dries up.

And then along came Covid, with people being urged to wash their hands.

A stream of cars and tractors visit the well in Lisduff everyday. The well is far from ideal, pointed out Thomas Carney. Located beside the road, there's run off from the road itself and adjoining fields and it is also open to wildlife and vermin.

The residents, he said, have offered every accommodation possible to see the scheme brought to fruition, from leeways to allowing the pipes run through their lands. Money has been saved and credit union loans acquired to meet the connection costs.

Asking people to sink new wells was not an option, he said, with the cost involved and the fact they would have to treat the water for bacteria and minerals to make it fit for drinking - an expense no one could support.

Explained another local resident, Eileen O'Brien: “We are just asking for a basic human right. We are living in the third world here.”

The community are prepared to bring their fight to Dublin by way of a protest, she added, pointing out the difficulties presented especially for elderly people, with home helps unable to turn on a tap when caring for them, and people cautious about illness.

Local farmers, too, are going with their buckets to the well or pumping water from nearby rivers to cater for livestock and horses. One resident is carrying water 600 yards five or six times a day to care for her horses. Harvesting water for cattle can be a hard slog in the winter.

Local farmers are mindful of their environmental obligations in protecting water courses. They have fields along the Glore - source of the Kiltimagh supply - where they can't spread slurry or spray to protect the town supply. They're ok with that but, as Caroline Forkan noted: “We protect it but we can't connect into it.”

Some people have purchased homes in the area with the expectation of being connected to a proper supply and are now in limbo.

Others have put their plans to come home on hold, like Thomas Carney, who has renovated a house and hoped to move his family.

“With three children that cannot happen until the house has a proper water supply,” he said.

With the Glore one side of them and the Trimogue to their rear, and the Kilkelly supply stopping just short of the village and the Kiltimagh plant only yards away, it seems this community is an island - water everywhere but not a drop to drink.

It is a hard pill to swallow with the supply connection line running a short distance away at the end of the Lisduff road.

Said Thomas: “The best option is the Glore River which Mayo County Council opted for in 2018 when applying for grant aid for our village.

“We have the river and water tower in our village which supplies the town of Kiltimagh and surrounding area with fresh drinking water.”