One night's gritting treatment costs €11,000
by Karen Downey Updated: Wednesday, 9th November, 2011 5:30pm
Council outlines plans to deal with harsh winter
It costs €11,000 per night to grit the roads of Westmeath during the cold snap, it emerged this week as Director of Services for the Athlone Area Barry Kehoe outlined the council's plans for winter maintenance.
Mr Kehoe told councillors at Monday's November meeting that it takes 100 tonnes of rock salt to treat the roads, at a cost of €6,500, and when staff and equipment were factored in, each treatment costs the council in excess of €11,000.
He said Westmeath County Council had been given an allocation of 4,500 tonnes of rock salt from the National Roads Authority and it was planned to treat priority one and two routes, but if there was a shortage only priority one routes would be treated. Mr Kehoe added that area engineers were aware of localised danger areas and these could be treated at the discretion of the area engineer.
"Should a severe cold spell such as occurred in December 2010 recur, the council will respond in largely the same manner. Staff, equipment and resources will be deployed to areas in order of priority and due to the limited nature of these resources, it will take the council a considerable time to get to all areas in need," he said.
He added that the council has been mandated to use salt sparingly and said any expenditure on salt over the council's grants must be taken out of the general road maintenance budgets.
Mr Kehoe also explained to councillors that the council will not be in a position to clear roads and footpaths in outlying areas and in housing estates and said it would be important to mobilise local communities as soon as possible after any severe weather event.
He said the council will liaise with the community and voluntary forum and will provide as much support as possible to local communities and residents associations. He added that the council will avail of all means available to communicate with the public and would regularly update www.athlone.ie and www.westmeathcoco.ie in the event of severe weather, as well as liaising with local media.
Barry Lennon from the council's Water Services section said the council was in the process of replacing 6km of watermain in the Coosan area and said contracts were being finalised for a series of watermain replacements, including the main supply to Annagh Reservoir, the Batteries, Retreat and Church Street. He told councillors that trace heating is being installed on some exposed pipework where this is practical.
Mr Lennon said that prior to last year's cold snap Unaccounted for Water (UFW) (water lost on the system) amounted to 37.8% but after the extreme weather it stood at 49% and is now at 41%.
If we suffer another cold snap this winter, Mr Lennon said that incident response teams would be established in Athlone and Mullingar where staff can deal with phone queries.
There will also be regular radio, press and internet updates and an increased use of social media such as Twitter.
He said there would be increased involvement this winter if there is a freeze and said the council would endeavour to maintain continuity of supply throughout the network and would ensure all available resources are made available to the public.
Cllr Kieran Molloy (FF) asked if that 41% means it's water that can't be found.
Mr Lennon said it was water that is lost along the way and said the council was constantly trying to find where it is lost. He said the percentage was falling all the time and a large area was now being upgraded.
Cllr Sheila Buckley Byrne (Ind) said it was important to get the message out there that people could salt their footpaths and driveways and should be encouraged to do so.
Fine Gael's Cllr Gabrielle McFadden said businesses should be informed that they are not liable if they salt the footpath and somebody falls outside.
Cllr Jim Henson (Lab) asked if the council could supply residents associations with salt bins, particularly in areas like Retreat where people can't get down the hill.
Cllr Kevin 'Boxer' Moran said it was time Athlone Town Council had its own winter maintenance budget. He also said that the council should spend €6,500 to order 100 tonnes of rock salt that could be used to ensure people can get into town, something he said the council could do for businesses.
Mayor Alan Shaw asked how the council planned to reduce the water leakages.
Mr Lennon said it had been reduced by 8% in the past eight months and said work was ongoing in detecting leaks. He said the mains rehabilitation programme would have a significant affect on the percentage of leakage that occurs.
"We would see that figure falling assuming we don't get another cold spell," he said.
Cllr Moran also asked about repairs to the roads in Coosan where there had been a number of bursts and was told the roads would be repaired as soon as all the works were completed.
