Water meter installers encounter no opposition in Mullingar

The firm contracted to intall water meters outside 25,000 Westmeath homes have enjoyed a trouble free first three days in Mullingar.

On Monday morning, Coffey Northumbrian Ltd began installing water metres in Lakepoint, Westmeath's biggest housing development. The firm, which is a joint venture involving Galway's Coffey Water Ltd and England's Northumbrian Water Group, expects to spend 12 weeks in Westmeath.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner this morning, one of the installers said that he and his colleagues have had an incident free first few days in Mullingar, unlike some of the places in neighbouring counties where they have worked in recent weeks.

While some water pipes had been damaged in Dublin during the installation process, he said that Coffey Northumbrian Ltd use a vacuum system to suck up the soil. This system, he claimed, is much safter and doesn't damage wires or pipes. He added that the firm use a power hose to clean up after they have finished installing every meter and try and leave places "cleaner than before we were here".