There’s light at the end of the tunnel for a drought-stricken village and for a community where women have had their hair turned green by the public water supply.
For more than five years the people of Kildorrery, Co Cork, have suffered persistent problems with broken water mains and low water pressure due to an archaic reservoir.
Council officials have now confirmed that they have secured planning permission for a new reservoir to serve the village and its hinterland and expect to start construction on it by the end of this year.
Several kilometres of water mains have also been renewed.
It is hoped that, together with the new reservoir, this will result in a far better supply for the area.
Businesses have had to import milk churns full of water on a regular basis because of breakdowns in the system.
Cllr McCarthy said he is glad to see planning permission has been granted for the reservoir and asked for a timeline on its construction.
It happened to a number of women who were living in the Bweeng area and they were at a loss to how this was occurring, until a local hairdresser came up with the answer.
She discovered that there was a high concentration of iron in the local water supply and this was the root of the problem.
They said a new reservoir is to be built which will serve both the communities, but they didn’t provide a timeframe for construction.