Upgrade projects have moved forward in Athlone as part of Irish Water's national Leakage Reduction Programme.

The national utility worked with Westmeath County Council to complete two further upgrade projects in the Arcadia and Coosan areas of Athlone which have reduced the number of bursts and water outages impacting customers. The works involved the replacement of over 1km of old and problematic water mains, some of which were made of cast iron and had become badly corroded, affecting water quality. These old pipes were replaced with new, modern pipework resulting in significant water savings and improved water quality and supply.

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Speaking about the project Matt Thomson, Leakage Reduction Programme Regional Lead with Irish Water, said: "Irish Water acknowledges the ongoing co-operation and patience of local residents and businesses in Athlone while we continue to deliver these vital water network improvement works to improve the water supply. The size and scale of the leakage challenge nationally is well documented. The completion of these projects 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."

The projects also involved laying new service connections from the public water main in the road to customers' property boundaries and connecting it to the customers' water supply. Where existing service connections on the public side were lead, these were also replaced as part of the upgrade works. 

The works were carried out on behalf of Irish Water by GMC Utilities Ltd.