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\n Campion’s letter to homeowners this week\n<\/p>\n
SOME 74 HOUSEHOLDS operating from a private well in a Co Waterford town have been told their water management company is withdrawing its services, following a dispute over increased water charges.<\/p>\n
Talks fell through with residents in Woodlands Estate in Portlaw after the company looked to raise yearly fees from \u20ac250 to \u20ac425.<\/p>\n
Locals objected and, after multiple meetings failed to find a solution, maintenance firm Campion has now told residents in recent days that it will cease work in Woodlands from 14 August.<\/p>\n
It means that in nine days the estate\u2019s water supply will no longer be monitored and may be placed on a precautionary boil notice.<\/p>\n
Unlike in cities and large towns, water is supplied in many of Ireland\u2019s rural areas by private connections. Some of these are being gradually brought into the public system, but the works can take several years.<\/p>\n
Uisce \u00c9ireann estimates there are more than 500 private developer-led sites that have been flagged for upgrades and public connections.<\/p>\n
Campion director Martin Campion told The Journal that inflation in the wider sector has seen his costs almost triple over the past five years, costing his company \u201c\u20ac25,000-a-year\u201d to maintain Woodlands Estate\u2019s water supply.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been trying my best but I\u2019ve been losing money there for the last five years. How can I take an offer when the sums don\u2019t add up?,\u201d Campion said.<\/p>\n
Residents have argued that they fear charges could keep rising, as fees started out at roughly \u20ac50 when the first homes were built in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n
The homes were built by local builder and farmer James Foran, who has maintained ownership of the private well supplying the estate. Waterford City and County Council took charge of other services in the estate such as roads and streetlights in 2013.\n<\/p>\n
Uisce \u00c9ireann urged to intervene<\/p>\n
Politicians in Waterford have urged the developer to provide management of the supply in the interim.<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in TD Conor McGuinness said that residents must have their right to a safe and adequate water supply upheld.<\/p>\n
\u201cHouseholds are now facing uncertainty about the continuity of their water supply and the continued monitoring of water quality. That is completely unacceptable,\u201d McGuinness said.<\/p>\n
Local councillors have also called on Uisce \u00c9ireann to immediately connect the estate to the public water mains \u2013 something long sought by several residents.<\/p>\n
Last month, Uisce \u00c9ireann confirmed plans to connect Woodlands, but this is expected to be some years away.<\/p>\n
In a statement to The Journal, Uisce \u00c9ireann said that an assessment on those plans has taken place but that a timeline for completion may not be provided until later this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe initial assessment of the Woodlands estate has been completed. A positive outcome is that the estate can be connected to the public water supply. We intend to have the detailed design and delivery programme finalised later this year,\u201d Uisce \u00c9ireann said, adding:<\/p>\n
Existing operation and maintenance arrangements for all Developer Provided Infrastructure will remain in place until Uisce \u00c9ireann can implement the resolution.<\/p>\n
Waterford City and County Council told The Journal that the maintenance of the water supply in Woodlands Estate was not its responsibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is the responsibility of the developer to manage and maintain the water supply and to ensure it is wholesome and clean and fit for human consumption,\u201d the council said.<\/p>\n
Foran was also contacted by The Journal and did not respond in time for publication.<\/p>\n
Letter received this week<\/p>\n
In the letter sent by Campion and received by residents on Tuesday, seen by The Journal, the company outlined its plan to cease services in the area.<\/p>\n
The Thurles-based company has been managing the local water supply for more than 20 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis decision has not been made lightly, considering the number of years Martin Campion has provided servicing and maintaining the water system onsite,\u201d the letter to households read.<\/p>\n
\n Campion’s letter to homeowners this week\n<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, after numerous meetings with the Woodland Residents Committee, we were unable to reach a mutual agreement on service charges going forward and the costs associated with keeping the water supply onsite to such a high quality.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs such, we feel we are left with no option but to cease all services to the water supply onsite.\u201d<\/p>\n
Any residents who had already paid for beyond August of this year would receive a refund for the remaining months, the Campion letter added.<\/p>\n
Water charge increase<\/p>\n
Last January, the company announced a new levy of \u20ac425.63 for the year \u2013 a 70% increase on the previous rate of \u20ac249.70.<\/p>\n
Residents who spoke to The Journal on condition of anonymity outlined that many households continued paying the old charge \u2013 roughly \u20ac20 a month \u2013 until agreement could be struck on a new rate.<\/p>\n
However, talks fell through between Campion and the Woodlands residents\u2019 association despite several meetings held in Portlaw, in Thurles and remotely.<\/p>\n
Campion told The Journal that he would be losing money for the \u201cnext year and a half\u201d if Uisce \u00c9ireann takes over the estate supply on time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s people there that can\u2019t afford to pay for this but they\u2019re paying a few bob, and there are others who aren\u2019t paying their bills,\u201d Campion said.<\/p>\n
Pointing to increased costs for insulation and electricity, Campion said: \u201cThe boys think I shouldn\u2019t raise my prices but for the love of god I have to run a business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Residents have argued that they can\u2019t keep pace with the rising charges.<\/p>\n
There are also a small number of residents who had refused to pay their water bills on what was described to The Journal as a \u2018point of principle\u2019, with some arguing that the estate\u2019s water supply should have been taken over by the local council when the wider estate was taken in charge in 2013.<\/p>\n
This came at a time when nationwide protests were taking place over the formation of Irish Water, now Uisce \u00c9ireann, which began taking responsibility for council infrastructure amid now-scrapped plans to charge households for water use.<\/p>\n
Local political reaction<\/p>\n
Local councillor Declan Clune said that the recent annual increase had \u201creally galled\u201d residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are residents that have never missed their payment and unfortunately there are some that haven\u2019t paid, same as anywhere, but there are payment plans available,\u201d the independent said. \u201cOverall the residents just want fairness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clune said regular testing by authorities has shown the water to be of good quality.<\/p>\n
He added that the developer, Foran, has to find a contractor in the meantime to ensure the estate does not lose maintenance of its two-decade-old infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in councillor Catherine Burke said that residents are \u201cextremely anxious\u201d over this week\u2019s development, as she urged for there to be \u201cno interruption to the water supply and no gap in the monitoring of water quality\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOME 74 HOUSEHOLDS operating from a private well in a Co Waterford town have been told their water…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[56839,61,60,246291,43,246935,246936,11259,776,2709,133383,246937,246938,16121,6513,246939],"class_list":["post-584717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-co-waterford","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-morning-lead","tag-news","tag-portlaw","tag-private-well","tag-the-morning-lead","tag-uisce-eireann","tag-water","tag-water-charges","tag-water-fees","tag-water-maintenance","tag-water-quality","tag-waterford","tag-woodlands-estate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}