Irish Water has invested more than €130,000 to replace lead services in Roscommon Town.

Working alongside the county council, the organisation has replaced 101 lead services with polyethylene pipes on Castle Street, Galway Road, and Lanesborough Street.

In addition, works included replacing around 300 metres of existing cast iron water mains with PVC mains on Lanesborough Street. Each scheme was completed in March 2016, June 2016 and September 2016 respectively.

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The utility estimates around 180,000 homes in Ireland, as well as hundreds of commercial and public buildings, still have internal lead plumbing, including lead service pipes from the water main to the stopcock.

Of the homes affected around the country, around 40,000 are thought to have shared backyard (common service pipes) which the company is targeting to replace over the next five years.

(LM/JP)