By C.J.McGinley

KIDNEY dialysis patients at Letterkenny General Hospital had to be sent home due to a lack of water after a burst pipe nearby was not detected for over five hours, a local councillor has claimed.

Councillor Ciaran Brogan described as 'absolutely disgraceful' the absence of an effective 'alarm system' in a gateway town like Letterkenny to deal promptly with water leaks and bursts.

Speaking at Monday's Electoral Area meeting in Milford, Cllr Brogan, said people and businesses in the town were being 'short changed'. He claimed there hadn't been such an alarm system operating in Letterkenny for almost a year.

"We used to have a bleeper alarm system where a council official could be contacted in the case of an emergency and was able to respond immediately. For some reason, this service has been discontinued but I'm demanding it is restored immediately. Recently, kidney dialysis patients at Letterkenny General Hospital had to be sent home due to a lack of water following a burst in a pipe across the road near the town park. It also caused severe traffic delays at a peak time in Letterkenny," Cllr Brogan said.

"The problem arose at around 3am and the gardai contacted a call centre to report the matter but they didn't think it was serious so the problem wasn't tackled until council workers got to it at around 8am- five hours later. Letterkenny needs a proper water system and it is a bit rich that we don't have an alarm system to deal with bursts and leaks as they happen. There were also similar problems in the Crievesmith area recently as well," he added.

Senior Executive Engineer, Mr Con McLaughlin, said the council had problems in the recent past in how the alarm control system operated.

"We are presently progressing plans to install and alarm control system at key installations on a priority basis. It is hoped the system will provide the additional early warning needed in our response to breakdowns. This is a priority and it should be restored as quickly as possible," Mr McLaughlin said.