High Street/Strand Street Water Main Rehabilitation Project

Uisce Éireann, in partnership with Kerry County Council has replaced problematic water mains on High Street and Strand Street, Tralee, to improve water quality, reduce high levels of leakage and improve security of supply.

Uisce Éireann has invested over €500 million between 2017- 2021 to reduce leakage and replace old pipes on the public water network. The benefits of this programme are:

• Replacing old pipes to reduce drinking water lost by leakage
• Fixing leaks to reduce disruption from bursts and outages
• Improving water quality
• Delivering savings on operation and maintenance of the network

Details of the project

The works involved the replacement of approximately 800 metres of aged cast iron pipes with polyethylene (plastic) pipes. The programme to replace the water mains on High Street and Strand Street will commence in mid-May. These works are being carried out as part of Uisce Éireann’s National Leakage Reduction Programme.

The section of works will take place on High Street from the Day Place/Bridge Street junction to the Strand Street/O’Rahilly Villas junction. The works also involved laying new water service connections from the public water main in the road to customers’ property boundaries and connecting it to the customers’ water supply. Where the existing service connections on the public side are lead these will be replaced as part of this improvement work.

The works were carried out on behalf of Uisce Éireann by Kerry County Council and were completed in approximately 11 weeks.

What are the benefits of the works?

The benefits of the leakage reduction works include:

• Improved Water Quality – Removing existing old cast iron and lead from the public water network and replacing them with new pipes will reduce the risk of contamination.
• A Reliable Water Supply – Replacement of water mains and service connections will reduce the instances of bursts and water outages and will ensure a reliable supply of water to customers and local businesses in the area.
• Reduced Leaks – Replacement of water mains and service connections will eliminate existing leaks and reduce the amount of clean drinking water lost into the ground.
• Improved Operation and Maintenance – These works will deliver cost savings by providing improved water network operation that will require less maintenance in the future.

Will customers be affected by the works?

Areas of work will be limited to short sections to minimise impact on customers. Local and emergency traffic will be maintained at all times. Traffic management may be in place at certain times for short durations and diversions will be signposted in advance.

The works may involve some short-term water shut offs and the project team will ensure that customers are given a minimum of 48 hours’ notice prior to any planned water shut offs.

We understand that this type of work can be inconvenient and works crews will make every effort to minimise any disruption these necessary works cause.