Emergency works in Mary Street, Mullingar last Friday meant traffic couldn’t access the busy street and presented problems for businesses in the area.
When contacted, Westmeath County Council explained that the works were necessary and had to be done immediately.
“We couldn’t wait until after hours. It was an emergency situation. There was a burst sewer on the street and it had to be fixed immediately,” a spokesperson said.
While some businesses felt the Council could have waited until after the busy Friday afternoon was over, it was explained that this wasn’t an option. The situation needed to be resolved immediately as the main sewer needed to be fixed for fear of contamination, it was explained.
It’s the second time this year that the street has been dug up and closed to traffic. The street remained closed during Easter’s Holy Week to facilitate pipe laying work, but the problem with the sewerage system was not resolved at the time.
Topic has learned that there was a potential disaster looming, had the problem not been fixed, however. People doing business in the area feared they could be flooded with sewage water as the drainage system was not able to to cope with heavy rain.
A heavy shower has meant water flowing down Mary Street and creating an unpleasant odour at the junction with Dominick Street. That offensive odour is sewage and if it leaked into a shop, it could have disastrous consequences.
Chris Monaghan, who runs a pharmacy on Mary Street, expressed his relief that the work had finally taken place on Friday, after eight months battling to keep sewage water out of his premises.
“I’m just delighted this job is finally being done, to be honest. I’ve been at my wits end, between watching the weather forecast, being up at the crack of dawn with a bucket to remove water and hiring private contractors to unblock drains. It’s been going on for the past eight months and just had to be sorted,” he told Topic.
Mr Monaghan was worst affected by the problem and feels it could have been resolved when works were being carried out on Mary Street at Easter. Heavy rain last Thursday meant there were problems for Chris again, but he’s now hoping the future will be brighter and that the threat of sewage water flooding his pharmacy can be resolved.
Other business were unimpressed that they were informed at 4pm on Thursday of the planned work and felt ripping up the street on Friday, one of the busiest days of the week, should have been avoided.
However, the emergency left the Council with no option.
