It began on Christmas Eve - an unexpected water outage in Trim in Co Meath which might have been described as a nightmare before Christmas - had it not lasted through to 28 December.
For five days residents in the Belfry and Talbot Court estates were unable to shower, flush toilets, or cook meals at home, at a time when families would normally be gathering to celebrate.
The Oaktree Industrial Estate was also affected.
Uisce Éireann later identified the root of the problem as a cracked uPVC pipe that had split along the bottom.
It was just one poorly timed example of the challenges facing the utility as it tries to maintain and develop Ireland's water infrastructure.
Uisce Éireann said it was made aware that flows within the Trim network had increased significantly on 24 December, placing the water treatment plant under pressure.
The estimated loss was approximately 40 cubic metres per hour, meaning if the affected area wasn't isolated, the overall Trim supply would be impacted.
Crews were deployed to find where the water was being lost, but it took a number of days to pinpoint an exact location and a repair crew was dispatched on 28 December.
Uisce Éireann said the affected main, a uPVC pipe, encased in concrete, was exposed, revealing that the pipe had split along the bottom and the damaged section was fully replaced.
Aontú councillor for the area, Dave Boyne, said residents were forced into emergency measures over the Christmas period, sourcing bottled water, relying on neighbours or leaving their homes altogether.
He said that while three tanks of water were supplied, they ran out within minutes and that community efforts helped people in need over the festive period.
Water a 'constant issue'
One of those residents was Miriam Larkin, who has lived at the Belfry estate for more than a decade.
She says that water is a "constant issue".
She noticed the "tiniest trickle" coming from the tap early on Christmas Eve morning, and it wasn't long before she had to cancel her Christmas plans to host visitors on St Stephen's Day.
Ms Larkin said residents were being told there were no faults in the area when they contacted Uisce Éireann, and that different people were being given different information.
She said that while tankers and bottled water were dropped off, they weren't enough and her family were using bottled water to flush toilets.
Ms Larkin said that communication with the utility was "terrible" and called for clear information to be provided when outages like this happen.
It is understood a local hotel also opened its doors for people to have showers.
Uisce Éireann said that to support customers during the outage, multiple pallets of bottled water were distributed, three bulk containers were deployed, and three affected areas were supplied on a regular basis by its tanker.
Cllr Boyne estimates there have been 120 water outages in Trim over the last two years, while Cathaoirleach for the Trim Municipal District Ronan Moore says the Trim disruption was the "latest in a series of outages" in recent years.
Uisce Éireann says bursts and other issues can occur in any water network from time to time and when issues arise, crews are dispatched as quickly as possible to restore normal supply.
Short term planned interruptions can also be required when connecting new houses to the network.
It says that in the Trim area, it was also necessary to implement overnight water restrictions to allow the reservoir to recharge overnight, which typically involves reducing flows, but not turning off the water.
Cllr Moore says water infrastructure in Trim and its environs is under pressure, including in Enfield and the village of Clonard, where he says a significant number of homes continue to see problems with their water supply.
Cllr Moore says that building more housing has put pressure on the system, but with aging infrastructure, the two factors are "feeding" into the problem.
"You can see there is significant issues with water in the district. My sense is that is shared in other parts of the county. On one hand, we're trying to deliver increased housing, and on the other, the infrastructure doesn't seem to be in place to deliver that housing."
Mr Moore says that while an upgrade to the Trim Water Treatment plant is welcome, it has come too late, as the old plant is "long past its sell by date".
He says once the plant is finished, the hope will be that the existing pipes will be able to deliver.
€20m upgrade expected to be completed in 2027
Work on the €20 million upgrade began last June and is expected to be completed by the end of 2027.
Uisce Éireann says the project will benefit over 12,000 customers and will address operational issues at the plant, and safeguard water supply for homes and businesses in Trim, "who have frequently experienced disruption from outages".
Cllr Boyne describes the water situation in the area as being at a "crisis point", and an ongoing issue, not just for Trim, but also for Enfield, Ballivor, Clonard, Rathmolyon and Longwood.
He says Uisce Éireann is underfunded, and while he welcomes the development of a new water treatment plant in Trim, he says there is much more infrastructure that also needs to be upgraded.
In the village of Clonard, intermittent planned water outages have been part of life for residents as essential works are carried out on the water supply there.
On occasion, there have also been unplanned shutdowns of the treatment plant.
Work is under way to source a new raw water supply by drilling a new borehole.
Yield testing and water quality analysis will later be carried out and it is expected the work will be finished in the coming weeks.
Uisce Éireann says if the results are positive, it will move forward with planning and design for this project.
An upgrade to the water supply for Enfield is also a priority, according to the utility.
The construction of an 8km pipeline is currently going through the design and site investigation phase, with construction to begin this year.
Before it moves to construction, Uisce Éireann has said it will "proactively communicate clear details of the project to the local community and to related stakeholders".
Communication issues
Communication of issues around water has been raised as a problem, including by residents in Trim affected by the Christmas outage.
Cllr Moore says he doesn't believe Uisce Éireann does enough to let people know what is going on, and that in his experience, when water outages occur, people are not aware of them.
"For the most part, people are understanding that these things can take time. Where frustration come in is where there is a clear timescale that hasn't been followed, or where things are allowed to deteriorate," he said.
"People are frustrated when issues aren't resolved and the go-ahead for more housing happens, which by its nature, will increase pressure."
Uisce Éireann has said it is committed to keeping customers and communities informed about any issues impacting their water supply.
This includes service and supply updates on its website, where people can search by their address or Eircode, as well as a free text alert service for real time updates, and its 24/7 phoneline and social media channels.
Trim is just one part of an extensive national network, which sees approximately 1.72 billion litres of water distributed across almost 65,000km of water mains and pipes.
The network also includes 715 water treatment plants and over 1,100 wastewater treatment plants, pumping stations and water sources.
Uisce Éireann seeking funding of €16.9 billion
Funding it all will be key.
Uisce Éireann says "sustained ongoing investment will be required for many decades to offset years of underinvestment in water services", and allow it to "go beyond" compliance, and to support the delivery of housing and economic growth.
It has set out a funding requirement of €16.9 billion to 2029, but has estimated it will need a minimum capital investment of up to €60 billion over the next 25 years.
All this, it says, will "increase capacity, reduce leakage, improve resilience, facilitate economic growth, support the delivery of housing and achieve greater compliance with current water and wastewater standards".
