Jan 10
12
City Managers report on Gritting.
At this weeks council meeting the City Manager brought a report to the members on the recent cold snap and the City Council’s response to it.
The City manager said that the Council have defined salting routes covering main traffic routes, bus routes, areas adjacent to schools and other busy roads susceptible to ice. The Council have been extensively salting these routes during the cold spell of weather. Salt stocks have had to be managed to ensure that they are not exhausted so the council have at times, mixed stone grit with salt on these routes.
The Council have an indefinite supply of grit which is obtained from local quarries and also mix this with salt and spread manually, mainly used on footpaths but also on some secondary schools.
The salting routes employ two crews and the manual gritting/salting operation involves an average of six other crews during the current freeze.
Also there has been a huge increase in consumer demand in the recent spell of poor weather. Coupled with the high level of leaks arising in the severe weather conditions water supply has been interrupted in a number of areas, due to low pressure across the network. The demands on the system have compromised supply to a number of vulnerable facilities, including the Mercy Hospital. Supply will be returned to normal as the demands on the system return to normal levels.
Freephone number during the period is 1800 283034.
I would ask people to check on elderly neighbours in their community who may be experiencing serious difficulties as a result of the prolonged cold spell. Tips and advice on staying well and warm in your home are available on www.ageaction.ie
