The Terryland Water Treatment Plant is set to undergo major renovations - to the tune of €3.9 million - which will result in the city no longer having to depend on Luimnagh to supply much of its drinking water.
The Galway City Council has signed a contract worth €3.9 million with Response Engineering Ltd to carry out the upgrading of the Terryland Water Treatment Plant as part of a design/build contract.
This followed the announcement by the Minister for the Environment John Gormley that he had allocated funding to cover the council’s contract with Response Engineering Ltd. Ryan Hanley Consulting Engineers are acting as consultant on the project on behalf of City Hall.
The contract includes the design, civil, building, mechanical, electrical and commissioning works to upgrade the capacity of the plant from 33,000 to 55,000 cubic metres per day.
The upgrading works at Terryland will produce an extra 20,000m3 of water per day, which will reduce the city’s dependency on the Galway County Council’s Luimnagh Water Treatment Plant, as well as providing additional capacity to meet medium term needs.
The water supplied to the city from Luimnagh has facilitated the decommissioning of the City Council’s Old Terryland Water Treatment Plant, which was at the centre of last year’s cryptosporidium crisis and is now permanently closed.
Minister Gormely said Galway city’s longer term water needs will be catered for through the €22.1 million Galway City Water Supply Scheme which is being funded under the Department of the Environment’s Water Services Investment Programme 2007 - 2009.
The news has been welcomed by Green Cllr Niall Ó Brolcháin. He also welcomed clarifications by officials at Monday’s city council meeting that progress is being made well to replace the old lead pipes in parts of the city.
“Salthill, which has extensive lead piping, has not been adequately tested for lead contamination,” said Cllr Ó Brolcháin, “but I was assured that adequate testing is taking place and that the appropriate works would be carried out in all areas of Galway city.”
