A campaign focusing on reducing leakage and improving water supply in Athlone is continuing to make a difference in the community three years on from its introduction.

Irish Water has been working closely with Westmeath County Council throughout the campaign, with over five million litres of water saved daily across Athlone.

The latest work which saw the partners deliver a further trench of works, replacing over 400 metres of old and broken water mains in the Retreat Heights area, has been completed. They reduced the number of bursts and water outages impacting customers.

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Speaking about the project Matt Thomson, Leakage Reduction Programme Regional Lead with Irish Water, said: "The size and scale of the network issues in Athlone are well documented and still cause outages and disruptions but we are making huge progress. Reducing leakage is not just about replacing old pipes or fixing bursts, it involves detailed planning, collaboration and a number of different work streams which will make the most impact on leakage levels in a given area. Visible bursts on the pipes are easy to find and fix, but hidden, underground leaks are a bigger challenge."

Also underway is the replacement of 700 metres of old and problematic water mains from Coosan National School towards Coosan Point which is progressing well and due to be completed before year end. These improvement works together with the leakage savings and upgrade works across the town to date will safeguard the water supply in Athlone now and into the future, and support future growth and development for years to come.