Work to drive down leakage in Athlone, Co Westmeath, is continuing to progress ahead of scheduled completion at the end of 2021.

Irish Water is working alongside with Westmeath County Council to replace water mains in the Coosan area to improve the security of supply and reduce high levels of leakage.

The work, being delivered by GMC Utilities on behalf of Irish Water, will involve the replacement of over 700 metres of old and problematic water mains from Coosan National School towards Coosan Point with new, high density polyethylene (plastic) pipes which will reduce the number of bursts and water outages impacting customers. 

The works will also involve laying new water service connections from the public water main in the road to customers' property boundaries and connecting it to the customer's water supply. Where existing service connections on the public side are lead these will be replaced as part of this improvement work.

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To minimise the impact on customers, areas of work will be limited to short sections. To facilitate the safe delivery of these works some traffic management may be necessary, however, local and emergency access will be maintained. The works may involve some short-term supply disruptions which we understand may cause inconvenience. The project team will ensure that customers are given a minimum of 48 hours' notice prior to any planned water interruptions.

Speaking about the project, Matt Thomson, Leakage Reduction Programme Regional Lead with Irish Water said: "Irish Water acknowledges the co-operation and patience of local residents and businesses in Athlone while we continue to deliver these vital water network improvement works and improve the water supply. The size and scale of the leakage challenge nationally is well documented. These essential works together with the leakage savings and upgrade works to date will safeguard the water supply in Athlone now and into the future, and will also support future growth and development."

As a result of leakage reduction works and through the close partnership between Irish Water and Westmeath County Council, over five million litres of water has been saved daily across Athlone.

The Athlone water mains improvements will get underway in mid-November and are expected to be complete by the end of 2021.