NI Water has appointed the Farrans–Glanua joint venture to deliver a multi-million-pound programme designed to secure high-quality drinking water for more than 250,000 customers across Armagh and Down over the next quarter-century.

At the centre of the £34m investment is a new state-of-the-art pumping station at Castor Bay Water Treatment Works, near Lurgan, which will replace the facility built in 1970.

The project also includes a dedicated high-voltage electrical connection on the NI Water site, replacing the ageing supply to reduce the risk of power outages and protect continuity of service. The new assets are being future-proofed with enhanced connectivity to enable potential Solar PV integration, supporting NI Water's Net Zero Strategy.

Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins said: "This much needed scheme is good news for over 250,000 customers in the Armagh and Down area. This major £34million scheme at Castor Bay Water Treatment Works will ensure continued supplies of clean safe drinking water into the future.

"I also commend NI Water on increasing the operational resilience at this site and am delighted that NI Water is continuing to make best use of the funding provided by my Department to ensure that such new assets will benefit customers now and in the future."

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Tzvetelina Bogoina, NI Water's Director of Infrastructure Delivery added: "As part of our strategic planning we look at the balance between water supply and demand across the network, taking into account population growth forecasts. This three-year programme of work at Castor Bay is a proactive measure by NI Water to meet the demand for drinking water in the South, East and Central Water Resource Zones until at least 2042.

"The Farrans-Glanua JV brings a wealth of experience in civil construction, process, mechanical and electrical engineering to this upgrade, which will be carried out in phases to ensure continued operation of existing water supply assets. Technical and project management support for the extensive improvements is being provided by WSP UK Ltd. These key framework partners will work collaboratively with NI Water's Infrastructure Delivery team and their local supply chain to ensure the best value for money solution is achieved."

The existing Castor Bay pumping station can transfer up to 95 million litres of drinking water each day from the treatment works to Ballydougan Service Reservoir, near Craigavon, supplying customers across Down and Armagh.

With demand growing, the investment will lift capacity to 115 million litres per day — enough to fill nearly 1.5 million baths — with scope to expand further. A new multi-branch cross-connection linking the Ballydougan, Forked Bridge and Magheraliskmisk pumping mains will allow flows to be re-routed during shutdowns or emergencies, increasing resilience.

Welcoming the start of work on site, Stephanie McCullagh Director of Customer & Operations added: "NI Water's core function is to produce high quality drinking water in a cost-effective manner to meet the needs of all our customers, both existing and future. Our overall drinking water quality compliance last year was 99.98%, which exceeds regulatory targets.

"Through investments such as this at Castor Bay, we continue to meet the targets placed upon us by our Regulators to comply with water quality standards and will continue to improve the service to all our customers in the future despite working in a challenging environment."

The upgrade will be delivered in phases to maintain ongoing operation of existing assets, with WSP UK Ltd providing technical and project management support alongside NI Water's Infrastructure Delivery team and local supply chain partners.