Irish Water has secured a top industry award for its Kerry Central Regional Water Treatment Scheme.

The scheme, delivered in partnership with Kerry County Council, was named Civil Engineering Project of the Year 2019 at the Irish Construction Excellence Awards.

The prestigious awards ceremony took place on 29 March in the Round Room of the Mansion House, Dublin, and recognised best practice across the full range of construction disciplines and project categories.

This is the second national award for the Kerry Central Regional Water Treatment Scheme, having won the Engineers Ireland Engineering Project of the Year Award 2018 in November. It has also been shortlisted for the global Water Project of the Year along with three other entries from Saudi Arabia, Russia and America.

The €30 million project, delivered by Nicholas O'Dwyer Ltd, TOBIN Consulting Engineers and Glan Agua, provides a safe and secure water supply for over 62,000 residents as well as industry and agriculture in the region, and serves the more than 1.2 million tourists who visit the region annually across Tralee, Killarney, Castleisland and Castlemaine.

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The scheme's new water treatment plant is amongst the largest in the country and provides over 50 million litres of drinking water every day.

Michael Tinsley, Infrastructure Portfolio Delivery Manager, 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.

"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 the project has received 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 Glan Agua 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 Irish Construction Excellence Awards judges for this recognition which is hugely appreciated."

(CM/JG)