{"id":81077,"date":"2025-09-23T13:35:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T13:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/81077\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T13:35:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T13:35:14","slug":"i-never-thought-id-see-this-day-87-year-old-kildare-grandmother-without-safe-tap-water-for-six-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/81077\/","title":{"rendered":"“I Never Thought I\u2019d See This Day”: 87-Year-Old Kildare Grandmother Without Safe Tap Water For Six Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\n For the past six years, Ward has remained under a boil water notice, with no confirmed date for when safe tap water will be restored.\n <\/p>\n

Eighty-seven-year-old Kay Ward grew up “poor” but always had running tap water.<\/p>\n

She has lived on a small lane in an area known locally as Horsepasstown, which falls within the boundary of Kildare.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For the past six years, Ward has remained under a boil water notice, with no confirmed date for when safe tap water will be restored.<\/p>\n

She says the disruption has become part of daily life but remains difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hasn\u2019t got easier as the time went on,\u201d she told Kfm. \u201cWe thought we\u2019d get used to it, but you don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every Monday, twelve large bottles of drinking water are delivered by ESB, which owns the local water main.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t lift anything at this age, so I wait for somebody to take them in for me,\u201d Ward said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like using that bottled water for cooking or tea. My daughters take large bottles, fill them at their taps in Manor Kilbride and bring them back. One of them bought me a little pump in Spain that doesn\u2019t fit very well, but it lets me fill the kettle without lifting the bottle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

She said even brushing her teeth and taking medication requires planning.<\/p>\n

“I have to bring water with me,\u201d she said. \u201cMy hands aren\u2019t steady. I spill a lot. I worry I might slip. It makes my life a little bit harder than it already is – and it is hard at this stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ward said her late husband expected the problem to be resolved quickly.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was hopeful it would go away,\u201d she said. \u201cBut nothing changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

ESB correspondence seen by Kfm outlines some of the timeline:<\/p>\n

On July\u00a0 3rd 2020 a boil water notice was issued after coliform bacteria was detected. ESB said it would investigate immediately and supply bottled water \u201cin the meantime.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the 19th of October 2020 a follow-up letter apologised for disruption and said specialist engineers were reviewing the network.<\/p>\n

On October 26th 2023 an update confirmed water quality was \u201cstill not at a level that would allow for the boil water notice to be lifted\u201d and said ESB had applied to transfer responsibility to Uisce \u00c9ireann.<\/p>\n

On May 1st 2024 another update apologised for \u201cthe long delay in reaching a resolution\u201d and said discussions with Uisce \u00c9ireann were continuing.<\/p>\n

Ward said the wording rarely changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last one still said, \u2018Please keep boiling your water,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

You can listen to the full interview with Kay Ward here:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Her daughter Annette Ward said around 22 households are affected, seven of the ten homes on their lane occupied solely by people over 65.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s less than a kilometre of pipe,\u201d she said. \u201cIn 2023 they said they\u2019d hand it to Uisce \u00c9ireann. A year later, it\u2019s still under discussion. We have no completion date and communication has been abysmal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Annette said the plastic waste has become significant.<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cOne neighbour with three children has used over 12,000 bottles,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re delivering French water to Irish homes. The recycling bins overflow and bottles blow around.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that residents rarely see test results.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey come and sample the water, but we never get feedback,\u201d she said. \u201cOnce I insisted and got a lab printout, but it had no identifiers – completely useless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Local councillor Evie Sammon (FG) promised to raise the issue in front of a Kildare County Council meeting.<\/p>\n

She raised it on September 9th.<\/p>\n

The response the council received from ESB in relation to the public Group Water Scheme which is known as the Horsepasstown public Group Water Scheme, said: \u201cUisce \u00c9ireann are the appropriate body to own and operate public water mains.”<\/p>\n

It added: “In 2023, ESB submitted a connection application to Uisce \u00c9ireann to take in charge or replace the water mains in the vicinity of Poulaphouca which are currently owned and operated by ESB. Uisce \u00c9ireann and ESB are currently working together to establish the scope of the works required to upgrade the mains to the\u00a0 appropriate\u00a0standards.”<\/p>\n

It further stated: “In this regard it is intended that site investigation, surveys and detailed design for the necessary upgrades will proceed in 2025. Once the complete scope of work is finalised and the construction methodology agreed an indicative timeline for completion of the construction works will be shared with the relevant customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kfm has contacted both Uisce \u00c9ireann and ESB for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kay Ward said no date has been given for when the notice will be lifted and that she relies on her daughters and neighbours to manage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I didn\u2019t have my girls, I couldn\u2019t do it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d think after all these years we\u2019d be used to it, but you don\u2019t – because you\u2019re always told it\u2019s going to be fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn all my years,\u201d she added, \u201cI never thought I\u2019d see the day in Ireland when I couldn\u2019t drink from my own tap.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the past six years, Ward has remained under a boil water notice, with no confirmed date for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[269],"tags":[18,440,19,17,54429,3625,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-81077","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-environment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-kfm","13":"tag-kildare","14":"tag-science"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}