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A major £13 million water improvement project has reached completion in Northern Ireland, improving the security of the supply for customers across Down and into Belfast.
These key upgrades at Drumaroad Water Treatment Works saw the construction of a a new water storage tank, which has a capacity of 36 million litres - equivalent to 14 Olympic size swimming pools. The improvements provide additional water supply to customers, particularly during emergency situations.
Mark Richardson, NI Water's Project Manager said: "We are delighted to announce the completion of this major investment at Drumaroad, which is one of NI Water's largest water improvement projects in recent years.
"The project will bring many improvements to our customers including improved security of the local water supply."
Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon added: "The completion of this £13 million upgrade is welcome news for the 540,000 people – a quarter of the Northern Ireland population - who will benefit directly from increased resilience and security of water supply.
"This investment will make a real difference to the lives of people living and working in parts of County Down and Belfast, particularly during emergency situations. This highlights the high returns that can be gained when we invest in our water and wastewater services and demonstrates the importance of continued investment in this critical infrastructure."
The new water storage tank will serve the existing Drumaroad Water Pumping Station and Chapel Hill Water Pumping Station to supply treated water onwards to the distribution areas. An additional Pumping Station was also constructed to transfer flows outside of normal operating conditions, which will provide extra resilience to the network.
Mr Richardson concluded: "I would like to thank the NI Water project team including contractor GRAHAM and RPS, who provided project management and technical support. The team successfully completed the new tank, while ensuring our customer's water supply wasn’t interrupted during construction. This major project will provide improved local water supply for many years to come."
