Huge cost of tankering water into Ballivor revealed

As Ballivor residents continue to deal with regular water problems, including ongoing issues with low water pressure during the current heatwave, the huge cost of tankering water into the village to boost supply has been revealed.

Amberwood resident Gareth Ferguson is one of many residents in the village suffering at the hands of substandard water infrastructure and had questioned how much it was costing the taxpayer to pay a private contractor to tanker water into Ballivor.

He put a request in to Uisce Eireann under the Freedom of Information Act which has revealed that the yearly cost of contracting Boyne Waste Services to tanker water over the past five years varied from €180,000 per year to €250,000 per year from 2022.

For years, the lack of water storage in Ballivor has led to water being pumped into the reservoir to try to keep supply going and now the huge cost of this has been laid bare.

Gareth told how he first asked the question in 2021 after seeing how trucks were regularly transporting water into the village.

At the time, the reason given from Uisce Eireann for not starting work on the promised water storage upgrade was down to cost. This prompted Gareth to query how much it was costing to tanker water with another Freedom of Information request and at that time the cost for for the first seven months of 2021 was €61,926.

Fast forward on five years and water is still be tankered in and the "temporary measure" is still ongoing.

"If it is a cost issue, why spend 180k to 250k a year on a temporary measure," said Gareth pointing out that it is total waste of money which could have been spent on the long term project.

In the meantime construction costs have spiralled and while Uisce Eireann announced the commencement of work after the recent major outage in the village, Gareth feels it was "damage control" and that nothing significant has happened on the ground yet on the project, despite it having an estimated completion date in the first half of next year.

Gareth requested information on how much it has cost to have Boyne Waste Service Supply Water into Ballivor, and asked for a total figure for each years going back to the start of water being trucked into the village.

The letter he received in response stated: "The decision-maker processing your request has advised that Boyne Waste tankered three loads per day with frontline Meath County Council staff when required from Trim/Navan to Ballivor for a number of years. The number of days were dependent on demand, totalling approximately 280 days per year. This work was doneas part of routine operations. Therefore, the work would have been costed and invoiced as part of a wider bundle of routine operational work. The decision-maker has advised that the cost ranged from €180k to €250k per year from 2022."

Even taking a conservative average of €200,000 per year, Gareth said this amounts to €1.2m.

He has lived in Amberwood for six years and says issues with supply started about six months after they moved in. While in the middle of the current heatwave, the water tank in Gareth's house has been empty for eight days meaning they cannot use showers, flush toilets, or wash clothes.

Gareth told how he has resorted to showering in the garden with a hose pipe as there is trickle of water in the garden tap.

"We have water in the cold tap in the kitchen but the pressure is too low to fill the tank, so we can't use showers, or flush toilets. We are constantly carrying bottles of water upstairs to fill the cistern. Some days there seems to be enough and you put on the washing machine but five minutes later there is an error message that there is not enough water."

He added that what came out of the kitchen tap looked like it had been used to wash a pile of dishes, it was so dirty.

Uisce Eireann has been out to investigate and he said they went around houses to check meters but that it is still not fixed and they could be another day or two without proper supply.

Despite being the closest estate to the water tower in Ballivor, Amberwood is one of the estates that suffers the most regular outages . This time the reservoir is full so it appears to be some sort of mechanical fault, with a valve issue being suggested.

Another Amberwoord resident Leanne Madden said they hav been without water in their tank since last Tuesday. "Since last Tuesday, we have no showers, no upstairs taps. You can't flush the toilet either.

I can't do dishes or wash clothes. I had to go to the garage the other day to do the washing. It's fine but it's not convenient and you have to pay for it.

"Our tanks are disgusting they are full of hard water and limescale. "

At an time it would be difficult, but Leanne said even more so for it to happen during the current heatwave.

Local Aontú councillor Dave Boyne said there were ongoing issues since last week and while the reservoir is full, the water is not getting from it to the houses. He said a leak detection team was being sent out to investigate and suspect it could be a valve stuck closed.

"People of Ballivor are so fed up," said Cllr Boyne. He added that it is putting people off moving to Ballivor as word is spreading about the water situation and people don't want to buy houses there so it is having an effect on the local economy also.