Storm Éowyn ‘a wake up call’ as thousands of houses still without water and power
With thousands of households left without water and power across the country, questions have been raised over the efficiency of Ireland’s emergency supply system. Some ESB customers have been warned that their power may not be restored until the first week of February. Head of water operations for Uisce Éireann Margaret Attridge told The Pat Kenny Show that the supply of water is dependent on the electrical grid. “We have generators at our larger treatment plants, so you would have noticed that there was no supply interruptions to our larger cities and towns throughout the country,” she said. “But we have 8,000 assets, water treatment plants, reservoirs, pumping stations, where we have a power connection going from the electricity network into our infrastructure. “So, it’s very difficult to have generators at all those locations. “The way that we operate is that in areas that are most at risk – the West Coast and the North peninsula – Mayo, Donegal – we’d have stockpiles of generators and then we mobilise them out where they’d be needed in advance of a storm.” Credit to : Newstalk