Communities across County Wicklow have enjoyed improved water conservation and water quality thanks to programme of works.

Irish Water worked closely with Wicklow County Council to deliver backyard water service replacements, benefitting over 900 homes across the region. The water savings achieved since 2018 equates to the equivalent water usage of over 8,000 people (per day), which is comparable to the daily required water supply for the Wicklow towns of Baltinglass and Blessington.

Speaking about the benefits of the project, Joe Carroll, Regional Delivery Lead at Irish Water, said: "Aged backyard water service connections are a huge source of leakage and continue to impact communities right across Ireland, causing low pressure, supply disruption, and issues relating to water quality. Replacing these old water mains and service connections in poor condition, strives to eliminate existing leaks and significantly reduce the amount of clean drinking water lost into the ground. It is vital to future proof water supplies and provide resilient networks across Wicklow.

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"Without the support of local communities getting behind these projects this essential investment would not have the desired effect. We would like to thank each homeowner who has engaged with us over the past number of years, leading to the success of the programme, and we look forward to continuing to work on replacing backyard water services into the future to provide a more secure and sustainable water supply across Wicklow."

This essential programme is only successful if all customers on a shared backyard water service connection, support and facilitate these vital works, so that old and leaking mains can be decommissioned and properties can be transferred to a new water main supply located to the front of the property.

The successful completion of these strategic projects has resulted in approximately 17km of new watermains being installed across the county.

Noel Doody, Water Inspector with Wicklow County Council, added: "Each year millions of litres of clean drinking water are lost into the ground due to old and damaged pipes throughout the network. The only solution in many cases is to replace the pipes entirely. In communities served by aged backyard water services, it can be extremely difficult to detect and repair leaks when the issue is on private property and there are neighbouring properties involved.

"These issues coupled with historic challenges whereby unknowingly homeowners have built extensions or patios over water networks can lead to more complex repairs. That is why the backyard water service replacement programme provides the solution to upgrading the network and largely eliminating legacy issues such as frequent bursts and low water pressure in these communities while improving the water quality."