Irish Water lodges €7m water supply application

Irish Water has lodged two planning applications with Waterford Council in a €7m project aimed at sourcing and conveying a new water supply from Dungarvan to the Ring Gaeltacht/ Helvic area of the county.

The planned scheme covers part of an area where a boil water notice was issued to 350 households in mid-July, and expected to last another four to six weeks.

The utility is seeking to construct a pumping station, enclosed building and associated works and infrastructure at Clogherane, close to Dungarvan, along with two water storage reservoirs, a control building and associated site works and infrastructure at Gort na Daibhce Uachtarach.

The project, under the Ring-Helvic water Supply Scheme, would lead to about 16km of water mains being constructed to facilitate more than 1,500 consumers. Residents are reliant on a scheme linked to water supply from a stream source at Seaview, within the Gaeltacht area.

The boil notice, relating to Seaview, had been issued “as a precaution following consultations with the HSE and amid fears that disinfection process may have been compromised on a section of the supply”, according to Irish Water which is continuing attempts to resolve the issue.

Meanwhile, Irish Water said the benefits of the proposed project will include “improved water quality, security of supply and its removal from the EPA’s Remedial Action List, through the elimination of trihalomethanes”.

The company is to spend €327m countrywide to ensure any schemes on the remedial list. Production on the west Waterford project is expected to commence early next year, with a completion date in 2018.

A planning decision is expected on October 13.