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SHODDY workmanship was the cause of some of the frozen and burst pipes that left homes without water for up to three weeks during the big freeze in Kerry.
Despite strict government regulations stipulating that mains water pipes must be at least 60cm underground to prevent freezing, it's now apparent that this rule was ignored in some cases leading to frozen and burst pipes and massive disruption during the recent freezing weather.
While not all frozen and burst pipes were due to insufficiently buried water pipes, The Kerryman is aware of cases in some of the estates across Kerry which experienced problems where water pipes that were buried far shallower than the regulation depth froze, leaving homes without water.
One resident said several homeowners had checked the depth of their mains pipes and found that they were at less the half the required depth.
Kerry County Council has acknowledged the situation and say that it now appears that some pipes were not buried to regulation minimum depth.
Local authority housing has also came in for severe criticism this week when a number of councillors blamed inadequate pipe laying for some of the homes left without water.
Mayor of Killarney, Michael Gleeson, said that a Kerry County Council engineer had told him that the laying of pipes in a number of houses was not up to standard.
"Pipes need to be buried at an adequate depth and insulated properly and that is not the case," he told a meeting of Kerry County Council on Monday. "A council engineer confirmed to me that a certain number of council houses did not comply with that standard."
While unwilling to identify the engineer in question to The Kerryman, Cllr Gleeson did state categorically that the council official had confirmed that a number of houses, built in the last 12 to 15 years, did have problems with frozen pipes because they were not buried deep enough.
Meanwhile, Killarney Town Council also heard that three quarters of council houses in the town were without water for a 10-day period, with inadequate pipe-laying again being blamed in some cases.
Despite assurances from town clerk, Michael O'Leary that 'there would have been a level of supervision when the houses were being built' and that a standard specification would have had to have been adhered to, Cllr Donal O'Grady said that he had encountered council houses with pipes only six inches below the ground.
- SIMON BROUDER AND MARISA REIDY
