Building work has started on a new reservoir in Saggart, Dublin.

The project involves the construction of a new 100 million litre covered treated storage reservoir that will help to safeguard the water supply to homes and businesses in the Greater Dublin Area (GDA). The reservoir will store 100 million litres of treated drinking water, the equivalent of 40 Olympic sized swimming pools supplied from Ballymore Eustace Water treatment plant, Ireland's largest water treatment plant.

The construction of the new reservoir and associate pipelines is expected to be completed within 3 years. Coffey Construction Ireland Limited recently signed the contract to deliver this project on behalf of Irish Water.

The upgrade marks the first significant investment in the existing Saggart waterworks since it was built in the 1950's. The current waterworks will be replaced with a new reservoir that will provide treated drinking water storage, building resilience in the water infrastructure for the GDA and improving the security of supply for existing and future residential and commercial development. Today across the world and in indeed in Ireland we can see the impacts of Climate Change bringing long spells of warmer weather and warnings alongside the continued need to support housing, businesses and economic growth. The Eastern side of the country and the GDA's water network need to be more resilient to periods of high demand and we need to build future capacity into water system for all. This project is one of a number of critical steps in safeguarding Dublin's water supply to ensure it is capable of meeting current and future demand.

-- Advertisement --

Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr Joe Costello said: "Turning the sod on the Saggart Reservoir project is an important milestone in the Greater Dublin Area’s water supply. The existing Saggart waterworks, built in the 1950s served our communities well and today marks the start of the construction of a new flagship reservoir that will serve homes and businesses across the GDA for decades to come. The reservoir will provide strategic water storage for the area and will provide for social and economic growth. I would like to commend those involved in bringing the project to this important day and I would like to wish the project team well as the build the flagship reservoir."