Irish Water's Kerry Central Regional Water Treatment Scheme has scooped the top prize at the ninth annual Engineers Ireland Excellence Awards.

The project secured the prize for Engineering Project of the Year 2018 at a ceremony in the InterContinental Hotel in Dublin on Friday 09 November.

The €30 million scheme was developed in association with Kerry County Council, and undertaken by Nicholas O'Dwyer Ltd, TOBIN Consulting Engineers and Glan Agua.

Work involved the construction of a new Water Treatment Plant at Lough Guitane and associated upgrade works on existing infrastructure. The plant provides over 50 millions litres of drinking water every day.

It was officially opened last week by Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin and Cllr Norma Foley, Cathaoirleach of Kerry County Council.

Speaking about the Kerry Central Regional Water Treatment project, Eamon Gallen, Managing Director of Irish Water said: "Until the completion of this project, the local water supply lacked an effective system to treat the raw water abstracted from Lough Guitane. This meant that the areas supplied by the Kerry Central Regional Water Supply Scheme were at risk due to the lack of sufficient water treatment.

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"Complicated by its scale, nature, and location the project required advanced water treatment processes, including recycling to conserve water and the use of pumping stations and pipelines, culminated in the creation of a new sustainable supply of drinking water for residents, businesses and industry in the region. The project also included an upgraded hydroelectric power turbine and water storage of up to 15 million litres of water, which is the equivalent of six Olympic-sized swimming pools. We are delighted to receive this award. I'd like to thank all the project team including staff in Irish Water, Kerry County Council, Nicholas O'Dywer, Tobin Consulting and Glen Auga who met the size and scale of the challenge of this project and developed a solution that would safeguard the supply of safe, clean drinking water for so many people in Kerry. I also want to thank the public and the Engineers Ireland judges for this recognition which is hugely appreciated."

Caroline Spillane, Engineers Ireland, Director General, added: "Engineers are people who create, explore and innovate. Behind every design-led engineering solution are communities and families that benefit. These winning projects are the embodiment of the immense contribution the engineering profession makes as a community of creative professionals to Irish society. They are eloquent testimony to the capabilities of Irish engineers working both at home and abroad. I offer my congratulations to all the entries involved, with a special word of recognition for the overall Engineering Project of the Year winner - the Kerry Central Regional Water Supply Scheme. This is an enormously impressive body of work that has transformed the water quality provided to 62,000 residents in that region."

(CM/MH)