22 June 2022
By Mary Bermingham
mary@TheCork.ie

Planned maintanance

Irish Water, working in partnership with Cork County Council, is replacing 350m of problematic watermains along the N22 in Ovens which will improve water quality for the community and reduce high levels of leakage.

The project will commence in late June and form part of Irish Water’s National Leakage Reduction Programme. The works, being carried out by Ward and Burke Ltd on behalf of Irish Water, are expected to be completed by mid-July.

The section of works will take place along the N22 at the end of the Ballincollig bypass, West of the Ovens Bar, and continue for approximately 350m westbound. A stop-go traffic management system will be in place for the duration. The works will also involve 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.

Outlining the benefits the mains replacement will bring, Steven Blennerhassett from Irish Water, explained: “Replacing these old and problematic pipes in Ovens will bring an all-round improvement to water quality for the local community. The old pipes had a history of bursting, so the new ones will reduce the drinking water lost and reduce maintenance on the water network in the area.

“There may be some short-term water outages and the project team will ensure that customers are given a minimum of 48 hours notice beforehand.

The N22 is a busy road, and we are expecting some traffic delays while we carry out these works. As the water mains on this road had a history of bursting, traffic delays were frequent while repair works were carried out. By strengthening the network, this should not be an issue in the future.

We understand that road works and water outages can be inconvenient, but our crews will make every effort to minimise disruption to local communities as we continue to improve the water supply in Cork County and progress the National Leakage Reduction Programme.”

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

This project is one example of how Irish Water is working in partnership with Local Authorities to reduce leakage and provide a more reliable water supply. 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 38%. We are on track to achieve a national leakage rate of 25% by the end of 2030.

Since 2018, Irish Water has invested over €500 million to upgrade the underground water network across the country through the delivery of the Leakage Reduction Programme. We are investing a further €250 million every year up to the end of 2030 – fixing leaks and replacing pipes to provide a more reliable water supply.