Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 12/30/2010 8:04:15 AM PST by La Lydia
An extra 250 megalitres are being pumped into the system every day, Northern Ireland Water said today, but most of it is being lost in leakages from burst pipes. About 32,000 properties will be affected today but the situation is improving in Belfast. Ministers in Northern Ireland are to hold an emergency meeting to discuss how to help the tens of thousands of people who have been left without running water for days.
The Stormont executive is due to meet as pressure mounts on ministers to sack senior managers of Northern Ireland Water (NIW) over their handling of the leaking pipes crisis...
It could be the weekend before all burst pipes are traced and repaired, and in the meantime almost 40,000 face further disruption to supplies.
Lorryloads of bottled water are due to be distributed to try to ease the plight of so many families, many of whom have been without water since before Christmas....
The delayed reponse by NIW has caused public outrage and the future of chief executive Laurence McKenzie, who has already admitted serious shortcomings in the company's communications strategy, is expected to be raised as well. ...
Mr Dallat said: ''The company is now effectively being run by people who have no experience of water utilities. No one should be in any doubt that this crisis didn't begin with the first snowflake. NIW has been in crisis for a very long time so it should come as no surprise that there was no contingency plan and a complete breakdown in how to manage the situation.''...
Glynn Roberts, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association, said: ''How come other parts of the UK went through similar weather conditions, but haven't suffered the drought we have? Heads should roll because of the disastrous response.''
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Was Mayor Bloomberg in charge of water over there as well?
And the pipes burst from - freezing? Another victory for global warming.
UK DEEP FREEZE/THAW - N.IRELAND ON WATER RATIONS AFTER THOUSANDS LEFT WITHOUT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0JYSZPfRx0&feature=player_embedded
Unless they want to turn their streets into giant sinkholes, they better stop doing this until they find and repair the leaks.
Purely bad optics.
ping
Well,,,, I read the article, and the comments, and still haven’t been able to determine just which “pipes” burst. Water mains? Service lines to houses? Pipes in inadequately heated structures? If it’s water mains, I wonder how deeply they’re buried? Here in Ohio, I believe the minimum is 6 feet.
Here in Michigan we bury pipes below the frost line as well. I don’t think they have much frost in Northern Ireland, so they probably don’t have a frost line.
You’re right, though, it could be burst pipes in the homes with unprotected crawl spaces. But in that case the people should be able to turn off their main valve, repair the pipes, and get water back again.
If everybody in an area has been without water for 10 days, that tells me it’s a water main.
I’ve been the operator of a water company for almost 30 years, and “mains” seemed the most likely answer. But the articles keep referring to “pipes.” Those silly Brits with their slang like “yobs” and “Bobbies,”, and spelling color , center, etc., wrong. Sometimes ya just can’t tell what they’re talkin’ ‘bout!
But,,,, yeah,,, I figured really shallow mains and service connections.
Yes. For one frightening moment, I imagined that the people who run the water utility in DC had moved to Northern Ireland.
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