Irish Water, working in partnership with Clare County Council, is replacing almost 1850m of problematic water mains in Tullabrack/Gower.
The programme to replace the water mains in Tullabrack/Gower will commence tomorrow, 20 October and are being carried out as part of Irish Water’s National Leakage Reduction Programme.
The section of works will take place on the R483 Cooraclare Road, starting adjacent to Tullabrack Lough and running for approximately 1850m towards Cooraclare.
The project also involves laying new water service connections from the public watermain 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.
Outlining the benefits the mains replacement will bring, Gerry O Donnell, Asset Delivery Regional Lead for Irish Water, explained: “The upgrading of these watermains will benefit the locals by strengthening and reinforcing the water network, hopefully leading to the reduction of drinking water that is lost due to leakage. It will minimising future disruptions to the communities water supply by reducing leakage and creating a more stable network – ultimately providing a better service and better water quality for all.”
This project is one example of how Irish Water is working in partnership with Local Authorities to provide a more reliable water supply and reduce leakage. Fixing leaks can be complicated but Irish Water are making progress. In 2018 the rate of leakage nationally was 46%, by the end of 2020 it was reduced to 40%. We are currently on course to achieve a national leakage rate of 38% by the end of 2021.
Gerry added: “To facilitate the safe delivery of the upgrades, there will be some traffic management in place, however local and emergency access will be maintained at all times.
“Areas of work will be limited to short sections to minimise impact on customers. Traffic management may be in place during this time. Local and emergency traffic will always be maintained.
“The works may involve some short-term water outages and the project team will ensure that customers are given a minimum of 48 hours’ notice prior to any planned water outages. We understand that this type of work can be inconvenient and our crews will make every effort to minimise any disruption as we continue to improve the water supply in Clare and progress the National Leakage Reduction Programme.”
The works will be carried out on behalf of Irish Water by Shareridge Ltd. and are expected to be completed by early December.
The National Leakage Reduction Programme helps provide a more reliable water supply to Irish communities by reducing high levels of leakage and improving water quality. Its delivery represents an investment of over €500 million between 2017 and the end of 2021 to reduce leakage and replace old pipes on the water network.
For more information on reducing leaks visit our National Leakage Reduction Programme page.
Irish Water’s 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 Water Supply Updates section of the Irish Water website or set your location on our website www.water.ie
Irish Water 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.