Water supply will be restored to all Kerry householders and businesses by tonight, according to Irish Water.
Up to 50,000 customers were left without water yesterday evening when a 700mm trunk water main burst, between the treatment plant at Lough Guitane and the Sheheree reservoir.
Lough Guitane supplies the Kerry Central Regional Water Supply Scheme and is one of the biggest in the country.
The burst pipe affected thousands of homes and businesses in Killarney, Tralee, Castleisland, Firies, Farranfore, Castlemaine, Ballymacelligot, Fenit and surrounding areas.
The pipe was repaired in the early hours of this morning by Kerry County Council crews.
The Sheheree reservoir is now being refilled and then water supply will resume very gradually to prevent another burst in the water mains.
Supply to the hospitals in Tralee and Killarney were maintained during the outage and supply to the vaccinations centres in Tralee and Killarney were prioritized this morning.
Irish Water’s Asset Operation Lead Anna Brosnan apologised to customers affected.
She said the cause of the water break will be thoroughly investigated and if needs be it will be prioritized for replacement.
Meanwhile, a 1 kilometre stretch of 600mm pipeline in Farranfore will be replaced in September. This follows a series of outages in recent times.
Ms Brosnan said work will begin after the busy tourist season.
Customers experiencing difficulty once supply resumes should contact Irish Water on 1800 278278.
Irish Water and Kerry County Council expect a substantial improvement in water supply by this evening.
However, they are warning that supplies will not be restored in all areas, especially in higher areas, as the water network continues to be replenished and pressure is built back up in pipes.
Alternative water supplies in mobile water tankers are now available at the following locations:
• Tralee: Mounthawk, O'Donnell's Bar, Brandon Car Park, Manor Shopping Centre and St. Brendan's Church
• Firies/Farranfore: Firies Church Yard
• Ballymacelligot: Clogher Church Yard
They will be in place in the next hour (2pm) in
Killarney at the Rock Road Car Park, Cordal Graveyard
Barraduff Community Centre and Abbeydorney Village
Customers are reminded to use their own containers when taking water from the tankers and to boil the water before consumption as a precautionary measure.
Customers should follow HSE and government COVID-19 advice in relation to social distancing when collecting water from tankers.
