Locals describe ‘nightmare' of having no water

Despite the inconvenience of being without water over the Christmas period, the majority of the locals that the Westmeath Examiner encountered at the stand pipe on the C-Link last Wednesday, December 29, were philosophical about their predicament.One Irishtown married couple, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described having to cook dinner on Christmas Day without water as a “nightmare”.However, they believed that Westmeath County Council was “doing its best” in exceptional circumstances.“Our water froze Christmas Eve morning and stayed off right through the period. Christmas Day was a nightmare - especially cooking and washing up.“Our son came home from London. He had been delayed at the airport and had to get a ferry and wanted to have a shower straight away. He nearly blew a fuse. We're lucky no-one is sick in the house or that there are no youngsters to make bottles for. We were able to make other arrangements for showers and things like that but if you had an elderly person in the house or a person with a disability it would be a nightmare.”“We're happy enough with the council's response. We go onto the website every morning for updates. The girl we talked to on the phone (a pipe had burst outside their house) couldn't have been nicer. They've given the position of the local stand pipes and we've met the council vans when we've been out driving.”Father and son Thomas and Nigel Cole from Newbrook Road had also experienced a water-free Christmas in their home, but said that they “weren't too bad” as they spent Christmas Day with a relative in Cloughan who has a well.While they too believed that the council was “doing its best” given the circumstances, they questioned if more could have been done to keep all sections of the general public up to date with the latest developments.“I know its probably unprecedented what happened but not everyone has access to a laptop or a computer. We had some info last night, but we were over in the hospital today (Wednesday, December 29) and it was mainly old people over there. They were talking about their pipes and the water and nobody had a clue what was going on or when it was coming back.”Woodlands resident John Joe Joyce said that him and his family had been “struggling” without water and heat for over a week. The situation was made even more stressful by the presence of his three week old child.“Trying to keep the place warm was hard because we couldn't turn on the heating because of the boiler. I've been coming here maybe twice a day for water.”While he acknowledged the mammoth task that faced the council, he was less than complimentary about their response.“I think they were a bit slow, people are struggling. They are not helping it much.”Another local who believes that Council's response was not what it should have been was the Clonmore Heights resident, Terry Young, who sent an email into the Westmeath Examiner last Wednesday.“Everyone standing in the queue and waiting to get water say the same thing- Westmeath County Council does not give a damn about the man on the street. They have their jobs. It is a total disgrace in the 21st century that we in Ireland have to queue for water, they did not do it 25 years ago in cold harse winters, but with all these so called experts working for the council we are having nothing but problems. They should be ashamed of themselves“The statement the council is making at the moment is pipes are still frozen and we have water shortage. After 4 days with temperatures at an average of six to eight degrees during the day and it has not stopped rainng, how on earth can we have a shortage of water?“