Irish Water, working in partnership with Mayo County Council, is set to commence works to replace problematic water mains outside Ballina which will reduce high levels of leakage, ensure a more secure supply of drinking water and a better quality of drinking water for local residents and businesses who have been affected by frequent bursts and outages.
These water mains renewal works involve the decommissioning and replacement of approximately 3.8 kilometres of old and damaged water pipes in Wherrew, Knockanillaun along the L1109 with modern, high density polyethelene (plastic ) ones.
The works are part of Irish Water’s National Leakage Reduction Programme which will reduce the high level of leakage across the country by fixing or replacing ageing water mains. Irish Water is investing over €500 million between 2017 and 2021 as part of this programme.
This contract is being carried out by Farran’s Construction Limited on behalf of Irish Water and is expected to be complete by late February 2020.
Explaining further what’s involved, Irish Water’s Leakage Reduction Programme Regional Lead Dave Murphy said: “Irish Water is committed to safeguarding the water supply for customers inMayo. These works will involve the decommissioning and replacement of water mains along the L1109 in Wherrew, Knockanillaun and will ensure a better quality and more reliable water supply for customers.
"The works include laying water service connections from the public water main in the road to customers’ property boundaries and connecting them to the customer’s water supply. Where the existing service connections on the public side are lead these will be replaced as part of this improvement work.”
The works may involve some short-term water shut offs and the project team will ensure that customers are given a minimum of 48 hours’ notice prior to any planned water shut offs.
Traffic management will be in place throughout the course of the works. Traffic lights will be in place from early November along the L1109 Gurteens /Rathball Road. Further traffic management arrangements will be required to facilitate the works and details will be provided once more information is available. Local and emergency traffic will be maintained at all times and the community will be notified in advance by the project team. Areas of work will be limited to short sections to minimise impact on customers.
Irish Water regrets any inconvenience these necessary water network improvements may cause and would like to thank local residents and businesses for their cooperation in delivering these essential works which will bring a more reliable water supply to the local community.
Residents and businesses in the areas to benefit from the planned improvements have been notified and customers can phone Irish Water on Callsave 1850 278 278 if they have any questions about the project. Details of work in the area will be updated regularly on the Water Supply Updates section of the Irish Water website at https://www.water.ie/water-supply/supply-and-service-update/
