An ambitious overhaul of Athlone Water Treatment Plant has reached a key milestone with the completion of phase one works.

Irish Water, working in partnership with Westmeath County Council, began construction work on the plant in January 2021 to increase its capacity and meet the long term demands for Athlone into the future. Phase one of the project included the installation of a supplementary treatment stream together with new clarification, filtration and disinfection facilities. These works, combined with Irish Water's intensive and ongoing campaign to reduce high levels of leakage across the town, has enabled the treatment plant to provide a more secure drinking water supply while crucially providing the headroom required to allow the commencement of Phase 2. Previously, the treatment plant could not meet peak demand for water in Athlone and surrounding areas.

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Speaking about the upgrade project, Martin Temple, Asset Delivery Lead for Irish Water, said: "Providing a safe and secure water supply for our customers in Athlone is a top priority for Irish Water. We are pleased to have completed the first phase of this major project on schedule and within budget despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and, most importantly, we have already delivered what is a critical improvement to the quality, resilience and robustness of the water supply for Athlone in the short term.

"When completed, the project will increase capacity of the treatment plant, enabling economic and social development across the town while ensuring compliance with current drinking water quality regulations. While Irish Water was progressing with the upgrade, we also accelerated our Leakage Reduction Programme to improve and secure the water supply and reduce the need for water restrictions. This work and the hard work and dedication of Westmeath County Council has saved over 5 million litres of water per day, significantly reducing the number of bursts and water outages impacting customers."

Upon completion of Phase 1, it was possible to immediately progress with an advanced Phase 2 programme of works to upgrade the existing sedimentation tanks which is already 50% completed. The next phase also involves upgrading and increasing the capacity of the existing treatment processes and includes the expansion of the existing inlet and intake pumping station, as well as upgrades to the filtration and disinfection processes. The project is being carried out by Veolia Water Ireland on behalf of Irish Water.