The small coastal town of Clifden in County Galway has been the latest community to benefit from Irish Water's national Leakage Reduction Programme.

Work took place to replace 350 metres of old cast iron water mains on Bridge Street and Hospital Road.

This has led to a significant improvement in water quality for the local community, local businesses and for tourists visiting the area.

Regina Hopkins, owner of the local Kingstown House B&B, said: "Clifden is a great place to live, and a fantastic tourist destination. As a business that caters for tourism clean water is essential. This project has made our lives easier and it has benefited the local community. When we turn on the tap we get clean water, the discolouration from the old cast iron main has gone."

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As well as ending the intermittent water quality issues in the area, the new water mains will reduce the likelihood of bursts and water outages and save time and resources on maintenance.

Paddy Hughes is a supervisor with Galway County Council and has maintained the Clifden Network for 43 years. He added: "The section of cast iron mains on Bridge Street had been in the ground since 1937, over 80 years. It caused significant water discoloration problems. The age of the pipe had resulted in sediment getting into the water supply and coming out of people's taps. Over the last number of years, our crew on the ground - myself, Pat O'Keefe and Stevie Lyden - have had to spend a lot of time flushing the sediment out of the water main. This project has put an end to these problems and has greatly improved the quality of water getting to the customer's tap. It is great news for business owners like Jim and Regina and for everyone else who was affected."