Crews attend Kent Bridge, Fermoy to repair burst water main

The northside of Fermoy is suffering a water outage resulting from a ‘burst water main’ in Kent Bridge late on Monday evening.

It is expected that there will be traffic disruptions as repairs get underway, with some households likely to be without water, or with a very low water pressure supply, for 12 hours or more.

It again brings to the fore, the need for town residents to have free access to the nearby tolled M8 which bypasses the town, in such an instance where the only road on the old Cork-Dublin crossing the Blackwater, via Kent Bridge, is closed – such as in times of flooding, etc.

Irish Water issues a statement outlining the difficult nature of the repair works

‘Irish Water, working in partnership with Cork County Council, has attended the site of a burst water main at Kent Bridge in Fermoy. Crews have isolated and closed off the flow of water and the area is being made safe, customers in the North of Fermoy can expect supply interruptions until the repair is complete,’ the statement read.

TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

The bridge was open to traffic early Tuesday morning, however it is expected that traffic management will be in operation over the duration of the repair work.

‘The repairs are complex due to the location of the burst on a bridge and works need to be carefully carried out. Due to the need for extensive traffic management onsite and for the safety of dedicated water services crews the repair of the burst can’t commence until early tomorrow morning (Tuesday).

'It typically takes two to three hours following repairs to restore normal supply to all customers affected by an unplanned outage’, the statement noted.