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Works continue to drive down leakage across Athlone with further upgrades completed

20 April 2022

Securing the water supply in Athlone remains a top priority for Uisce Éireann as the intensive campaign continues to drive down leakage across the town and improve the water supply to homes and businesses. The works continue to be delivered as part of Uisce Éireann’s national Leakage Reduction Programme which continues to deliver significant benefits to the local community including improved water quality, a more secure water supply and considerable water savings.

Working in partnership with Westmeath County Council, Uisce Éireann has completed two further upgrade projects in the Arcadia and Coosan areas of Athlone which have reduced the number of bursts and water outages impacting customers. The works involved the replacement of over 1km of old and problematic water mains, some of which were made of cast iron and had become badly corroded, affecting water quality. These old pipes were replaced with new, modern pipework resulting in significant water savings and improved water quality and supply.

Speaking about the project Matt Thomson, Leakage Reduction Programme Regional Lead with Uisce Éireann said: “Uisce Éireann acknowledges the ongoing co-operation and patience of local residents and businesses in Athlone while we continue to deliver these vital water network improvement works to improve the water supply. The size and scale of the leakage challenge nationally is well documented. The completion of these projects 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.

The projects also involved laying new service connections from the public water main in the road to customers’ property boundaries and connecting it to the customers’ water supply. Where existing service connections on the public side were lead, these were also replaced as part of the upgrade works. 

The works were carried out on behalf of Uisce Éireann by GMC Utilities Ltd.

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 but we are making progress. In 2018 the rate of leakage nationally was 46%, by the end of 2021 it was reduced to 38%. For more information, please visit our National Leakage Reduction Programme page.

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.