Hampton Wood Update

Question to City Manager City Council Meeting 10/01/2011

Q6. COUNCILLOR BILL TORMEY
To ask the City Manager why the Hampton Wood Area of Finglas has been most adversely affected by no water or low pressure during the period from 8 December 2010? Some houses higher up in the estate have little or no water and are experiencing difficulties with daily life as a consequence. Residents have been told of valve closures to their reservoir so that no water is filled overnight. What will be done to ensure equity and fairness in the water supply for Hampton Wood?

CITY MANAGER’S REPLY:
Due to increased demand caused by the severe cold weather, treated water storage levels dropped. Our ability to treat water is limited and the only option available to us to halt this drop was to ask consumers to reduce their water demand and to impose restrictions on supplies. These restrictions were put in place throughout the Dublin region including Dublin City from Tuesday 7th December. This has resulted in a reduction in the flow into Hampton Wood. However, since the flow is going into a reservoir and the outlet from the reservoir was not restricted, usage continued as normal and the reservoir drained down.
We have been in contact with the management company who are responsible for managing the reservoir and distribution network within the estate. They have been advised to restrict the outlet from the reservoir in tandem with our restrictions. In this way the level in the reservoir can be maintained. The flow into the estate will continue to be below normal while restrictions are in place so consumers will need to reduce their consumption in order to ensure that the volume supplied is shared among all users.
While we regret the need to impose restrictions and will keep the restrictions to the minimum possible, it is unfortunately necessary to maintain restrictions in place until storage levels recover adequately. Our web site www.dublincity.ie provides up-to-date information on the restrictions being imposed. The situation is being continuously monitored and when possible restrictions are eased.
Contact: Mary McMahon, Executive Engineer, Water Division
Tel: 222 4815

It is clear that residents were uninformed about the engineering reality of Hampton Wood estate. I must say that I was really surprised at the geography of the water supply.

There was a good informative, well-attended meeting on Wednesday 12th January at the Deputy Mayor Pub near Hampton Wood.

The Water Reservoir located in Hampton Wood ran out of water and when Dublin City Council was unable to provide sufficient pressure to fill the tank. Apparently the water tower tank only began to fill at about 4 pm and then for only three hours on some days. This resulted in some houses only having water for a short period and some had no water for about one week. When the pressure was increased by the City Council to supply the system at Hampton Wood, the water supply to the rest of Finglas closed down much to the consternation of residents and apparently the engineers.

Assured Property Management was contacted by the Assistant Area Manager at the Northwest Area, Margaret Geraghty, and encouraged to regulate the Hampton Wood supply for residents. They said that they would get a person to do that.
As discussed at the meeting, a core group of residents are to meet to lobby the current Directors of the management companies so that some residents may be appointed to the Board of the Companies, giving some control to the residents directly. Hopefully the Directors will agree to a meeting and I intend to bring up DCC’s potential role in the estate at same.dwyer Nolan play a key role in the estate still. It appears that the housing units that are unsold by the developer do not have to pay management fees. One management company No1 “The Courtyard” has a deficit of €58,000 – €32,000 is due from the builders. The meeting was told that management company number 2 is in surplus of €466, and number 3 has a €17,408 loss. But it is important for legal reasons to keep trhe companies registered because otherwise sale is impossible.

There are big problems with waste management and water.

I believe that Dublin City Council should take the water and roads in charge. A meeting with DCC and the residents should be organised. This must include all councillors. The Area Committee of the councillors will get the issue on the agenda.

I would like to see the engineering design altered to put all units on the main water supply like everywhere else. If the roads are private, they should be taken in charge. The City Manager indicated that there were legal difficulties in the estate. My view is, if there are, lets get around them. We must help the residents to surmount the problems.

Illegal dumping near the bin sheds must be brought to the attention of Jackie O’Reilly in waste management and I will ask her to look into this. She is a very efficient officer and will sort out the problems. Anyone who sees who is doing this should let us know the car numbers or other identification. Tell the City Council, or the councillors or the gardai. Morale is affected by dumping and we must resist any downturn in the estate standards.