9 December 2017
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
Aging mains have been subject to frequent bursts and leakage
Residents and businesses in the Newtownshandrum area (located West of Charleville, in North County Cork) will benefit from a much more secure and reliable water supply as a result of an Irish Water project to replace aging water mains in the village.
The five sections of mains being replaced have a total length of 10.5km and have been subject to frequent bursts and leakage, leading to disruptions to supply on a number of occasions.
This project addresses this problem by replacing the aging mains and service connections with modern plastic water mains.
A secure and reliable water supply
Steven Blennerhassett, Water Networks Programme regional lead with Irish Water, commented “By replacing these old sections of water main we will address what has become a regular problem of supply outages due to burst pipes. This will benefit the residents and businesses in Newtownshandrum by providing them with a secure and reliable water supply.”
“This work will also reduce leakage on the network which will help to reduce the volume of treated water that is lost unnecessarily.”
Construction work will get underway on 13 December and is expected to take 4 months to complete. During that time, the project team will work closely with the local community to minimise any disruption to customers.
The work sections will be limited to short sections and traffic management arrangements will be put in place to minimise impact on customers. 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 prior notice of any planned water shut offs. Customers can contact the Irish Water call centre on 1850 278 278 if they have any queries.
Part of national Leak Reduction Programme
This project forms part of Irish Water’s national Leak Reduction Programme which will see an investment of over €500 million nationally over the next four years to improve the public water supply. These works will ensure that customers have a more reliable service and experience fewer water outages due to burst pipes and leaks. The new pipes will also ensure a clean and safe water supply for all our customers.
