Irish Water is continuing to progress its intensive campaign to drive down leakage in Westmeath.

The utility is working with Westmeath County Council to replace approximately 2km of old and damaged water mains along the L5744 and adjacent roads in Castlepollard with new, modern pipes. Ageing pipes over time can significantly impact water quality, leakage levels, and pressure. Replacing these old, damaged pipes will greatly reduce the high levels of leakage, interruptions, and low-pressure affecting customers in the community.

GMC Utilities Group will begin work in the coming days, with completion expected in March 2023.

Matt Thomson, Leakage Reduction Programme Regional Lead with Irish Water, said: "We are delighted to announce this investment for the local community in Loughpark. This is one of several on-going projects in Castlepollard, last month in Kiltoon we started replacing over 4km of old and damaged water mains. Replacing these old and damaged pipes is a first step in tackling the high levels of leakage, low water pressure, and outages which have been affecting homes and businesses. The works will not only reduce the amount of drinking water lost to leakage but will also deliver a much more reliable water supply for generations to come.

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"To minimise the impact on the local community, we are delivering these works on a phased basis with areas of work limited to short sections.

"On behalf of Irish Water, I would like thank the Loughpark community in advance for their patience and cooperation as traffic management will be necessary as the project progresses. However, based on previous experiences, we know that the short-term inconvenience will be overshadowed by the long-term benefits."

The works 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. The works may involve some short-term supply interruptions which we understand may cause inconvenience, however, the project team will ensure that customers are given a minimum of 48 hours' notice prior to any planned water interruptions.