Works continue to drive down leakage in Athlone
11 November 2021
Securing the water supply in Athlone remains a vital focus and Uisce Éireann is continuing with efforts to drive down leakage across the town and improve the water supply for homes and businesses. Uisce Éireann, working in partnership with Westmeath County Council, is progressing with water main replacement works in the Coosan area to improve the security of supply and reduce high levels of leakage.
The works will involve the replacement of over 700 metres of old and problematic water mains from Coosan National School towards Coosan Point with new, high density polyethylene (plastic) pipes which will reduce the number of bursts and water outages impacting customers.
The works will also involve laying new water service connections from the public water main in the road to customers’ property boundaries and connecting it to the customer’s water supply. Where existing service connections on the public side are lead these will be replaced as part of this improvement work.
To minimise the impact on customers, areas of work will be limited to short sections. To facilitate the safe delivery of these works some traffic management may be necessary, however, local and emergency access will be maintained. The works may involve some short-term supply disruptions which we understand may cause inconvenience. The project team will ensure that customers are given a minimum of 48 hours’ notice prior to any planned water interruptions. Uisce Éireann and Westmeath County Council regret any inconvenience these improvement works may cause.
The works, which are scheduled to begin in mid-November, will be carried out on behalf of Uisce Éireann by GMC Utilities Ltd. and are expected to be completed by the end of 2021.
Speaking about the project Matt Thomson, Leakage Reduction Programme Regional Lead with Uisce Éireann said: “Uisce Éireann acknowledges the co-operation and patience of local residents and businesses in Athlone while we continue to deliver these vital water network improvement works and improve the water supply. The size and scale of the leakage challenge nationally is well documented. These essential works together with the leakage savings and upgrade works to date will safeguard the water supply in Athlone now and into the future, and will also support future growth and development.”
As a result of leakage reduction works and through the close partnership between Uisce Éireann and Westmeath County Council, over 5 million litres of water has been saved daily across Athlone. Fixing leaks can be complicated with over 63,000km of water pipe in Ireland. Most leaks aren’t visible, resulting in precious water being lost but we are making progress. In 2018 the rate of leakage nationally was 46% by the end of 2020 it was 40% and we are currently on course to achieving a national leakage rate of 38% by the end of 2021. For more information, please visit our National Leakage Reduction Programme page.
The Uisce Éireann customer care helpline is open 24/7 on 1800 278 278 and customers can also contact us on Twitter @IWCare with any queries. For updates please visit the Supply and Service Updates section of our website.
Uisce Éireann is responsible for the delivery of all public water and wastewater services in Ireland. We are committed to continuously upgrading and developing critical infrastructure to support the growth needed in housing and across our economy, while protecting the environment and safeguarding water supplies.