Brittas Bay water battle ending after eight years

BRITTAS Bay's water woes may be coming to an end. After a battle of almost eight years to bring a mains water supply to the area, Brittas Bay Community Development Group's campaign seems set to bear fruit.

Environment Minister Dick Roche announced last week that his department had authorised the release of funding which will enable the provision of a water supply to the area.

The campaign has been running since 1998. When the community development group was formed, local people identified the need for a water supply as a necessary component in a wider fight to reverse local depopulation and revitalise the area.

Brittas Bay Group Water Scheme was set up and an audit of applicants for a water supply under the scheme was compiled and an engineering consultant was employed to submit plans to Wicklow County Council.

The group hit their first obstacle when their application was mislaid and for 18 months the Brittas Bay Group Water Scheme officially didn't exist.

Further uncertainty occurred when a new European policy of 'clustering' group water schemes looked like causing further postponement while measures to implement this policy were put in place. This policy was later abandoned.

A meeting of the Brittas Bay Group Water Scheme took place in County Buildings with council officials who informed the group that they were planning to upgrade the water supply to the greater Wicklow area and a supply to Brittas would be included in this project.

'It looked as if things were back on track when a public meeting was arranged with officials of Wicklow County Council to brief local residents on the latest stage of the scheme.

'Local people expected to be informed at this meeting that their long and frustrating wait would result in a positive outcome from that meeting,' recalled Paul Leahy, local activist and committee member.

Instead it was announced that the scheme did not qualify for a water supply because it did not reach a threshold to render the scheme eligible for funding.

Paul Leahy was so taken aback by this development that he announced his candidacy as an independent in the forthcoming local government election to express his frustration at this latest development.

While he failed to win a seat, he did receive a huge percentage of the vote in his own area.

As recently as one month ago, it looked as if the scheme was again in difficulties because it appeared the department would not release the necessary funding to the council.

'Thursday's announcement in Enniskerry by the minister, however, appears to have provided the long suffering populace of Brittas Bay with a major boost to their hopes.

'Their experience of setbacks to date will prompt them to give this development a cautious welcome,' Paul told the Wicklow People.

'While calls for a water supply to the area have been ongoing since the late 1950s, the present saga began in 1998 when a group of local people decided to take the matter in hand and pursue their rights as a community,' he said. 'This involved interaction with councillors, council officials and local media by a persistent local community group who refused to be swamped by the setbacks that occurred.'

He paid tribute to Minister Roche for choosing to swing the scales in favour of a small community.

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