Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink

This is one I've done in the past few days. I'm really interested in this section of North West Kildare, not least because as an avid cyclist, it's about the only place in the county where there are some decent hills. Also, the roads are quiet. But, under the ground, it's anything but quiet - in fact it's a fascinating place. Pity the County Council and the Department of Environment haven't realised that.

As you'll see from the article, the locals are forced to use their own wells, with less than satisfactory results.

Rust damage from excess iron in the water.

More damage, this time to the inside of the cistern on the toilet of a house near Carbury.

One of the wells that was dug, but has since been capped. There's a trickle of water flowing from it, down to the ditch - hence the fresh green grass.

It will surprise most, given the general downturn in our national fortunes, to hear that a €154 million programme of investment was announced for Kildare in the past couple of weeks.
But the most surprising bit is that the investment, which was in various water service schemes, does not include anything for a proposed scheme that would provide a large section of the county with a public water service for the first time, a service locals have been fighting to secure for the past 20 years.
The furthest reaches of North West Kildare are one of the most remote parts of the county and is characterised by the rolling hills of the Esker Riada.
It's a place of large farms and small quarries, where 10 minutes driving in either direction could leave you in either Kildare, Offaly or Meath. Another ten minutes and you're in Westmeath.
Above the ground it's fairly quiet – a passing tractor or a far off dog barking being the only thing you'll encounter most of the time.
But under the ground is another story, with an abundance of underground lakes and streams. According to Seamus Langan, a local county councillor living in the area, there are several wells in the area that can produce up to a million gallons of water per hour.
On the one hand, this is great news because it could reduce the county’s dependence on water from the Liffey, which provides 90% of it. In an era where some are suggesting that water be piped across the country from the Shannon to Dublin, it's a pressing issue for a county with one of the biggest populations in the state.
On the other hand it adds a definite touch of the bizarre to this whole saga, because as it stands now, the population of a large area that stretches from Derrinturn to Johnstownbridge, from Clogherinkoe to Broadford, has no public water service.
Each house is dependent on its own, or a nearby well for water. Inevitably the quality of the water is mixed. While some households have no problems, as our pictures show, a high degree of iron in some wells has left some people with, in practical terms, no water.
But here's where it gets more complicated. Two decades ago, in 1990, the Balyna Group Water Scheme was established - the aim being to provide usable water to local people.
The Scheme's organising committee collected more than €219,000 from more at least 700 homes. The cost per household was reckoned to be approximately €800, and most households gave at least half.
Twenty years later, there's still no scheme. “We can't go back looking for the rest,” Frank Caffrey of the group told the Leinster Leader. “There's a certain loss of credibility.
“People are asking where the scheme is. And some are even asking for their money back,” he said.
In 2004 it was decided by the Water Services Section of Kildare County Council that because of the size of the proposed scheme and the infrastructure required, it should be included in their Water Service Investment Programme in order to put the supply of water on a more sound footing.
The scheme received approval and work started with wells being dug in a number of spots around the area.
The County Council even went so far as to publish more than 30 Compulsory Purchase Orders in this newspaper in 2005. And, the Leinster Leader understands, those plots of land have been bought and paid for.
But since then, the whole thing has come to a halt. Wells have now been capped and no further work has taken place in recent times.
Kildare County Council is on record as saying that it was proposed to abstract approximately eight million litres a day from groundwater under wellfields at Roberstown and Johnstownbridge
It was thought that a new €1.2 billion worth of investment in national water services might kick start the whole thing again. And the scheme was included in a needs assessment that had been submitted to the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government.
Minister John Gormley told Bernard Durkan in the Dail in March this year that the application was being considered. He added that his Department was waiting for documents from Kildare County Council, and that once they got these, “a decision will be notified to the Council as soon as possible in light of the finalisation of the Water Services Investment Programme for 2010-2012.”
However, on Tuesday, April 20, again in response to Deputy Durkan, he said it was “not possible to include the Ballyna Regional Water Supply Scheme amongst the priority contracts and schemes selected for inclusion”.
So, somehow the Ballyna Regional Water Supply Scheme, which locals have campaigned for 20 years and was to provide a basic water service to people who essentially, currently have none, fell down the list of priorities.
This left a lot of people in North West Kildare scratching their heads, and understandably, very angry.
At the May meeting of County Councillors from the Clane Area Committee, the Council confirmed the bad news and told Cllr. Seamus Langan, that the Council's “Water Services has since met with the Department Inspector to impress on him the importance and need for the Scheme and the desirability of progressing the Scheme through the Planning Stage.
“The Department requested that Water Services resolve all outstanding issues with Waterways Ireland in relation to the Grand Canal.”
And with a review of the Programme due at the end of the year, “there may be a possibility of further considering the position of the wellfields in this context, but only if the Waterways issue is resolved in the interim.”
An internal memo between engineers within the Water Services Section sent May 22, 2009 and seen by the Leinster Leader stated that “progress has been delayed due to the introduction of new forms of contract and their imposition on Local Authorities in 2008.
“In addition, technical issues have been raised by Waterways Ireland in relation to water table drawdown from the wellfields in Robertstown.”
However in response to a query from the Leinster Leader, the County Council said issues with Waterways Ireland were not responsible for the non-inclusion of the Scheme in the investment programme.
But at the time of going to press, yesterday morning, Tuesday, May 25, the Council has yet to explain why the Scheme was not included.
However Deputy Bernard Durkan said that he believed the Scheme had fallen foul of the Department of the Environment's new priorities which are to support schemes that aim to conserve water rather than increase the amount being used.
“This worked out badly for the people of that area.Their situation is critical. They have no drinking water, or it's tainted and discoloured.
“It's totally and absolutely unfair that they should be treated in that fashion.”
As to who or what organisation or person was responsible for letting the people of North West Kildare fall through the cracks, he concluded, in spectacularly Kafka-esque fashion that: “The local authority had pre-ordained which way it would go, in accordance with the Minister's wishes”.
But he swore he wasn't finished on the matter. “As far as I'm concerned, I don't intend to let it rest.
“There's more to this story,” he said.
And the Leinster Leader will keep you up to date.

Tells its own story really.