Irish Water plans €200m treatment plant

IRISH Water is to build a new treatment plant that will supply water to 200,000 people in Wicklow and south Dublin following a drastic reduction in supplies during the summer drought.

The utility said yesterday that work on the water supply in that area was ‘urgent’ and that the EPA had said the water was below drinking standard.

The treatment plant contact at Vartry Reservoir site will go to Veolia Water Ireland Ltd, which has numerous contacts with Irish Water.

It follows major concerns about water quality in the area and the major drop in supplies over the summer. The construction of the new plant is part of a €200million investment in the Vartry Water Supply Scheme. Construction of the plant is due to begin later this year and is expected to be completed in 2020. The Vartry Water Supply Scheme was originally constructed in the 1860s.

Irish Water said yesterday that the Vartry Water Supply Scheme is in urgent need of improvement and is on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Remedial Action List which identifies water supplies that are in need of improvement to comply with drinking water regulations. Geoff O’Sullivan, project manager with Irish Water said Vartry has had no major upgrade since it was built 150 years ago. Irish Water has also committed to providing a compensation flow of 5million litres per day into the River Vartry which will protect the ecology of the river during periods of low flow. The volume of water abstracted will be the same level as it has been over the last 150 years, since the scheme was commissioned.

Plans are also underway to extend the supply area of the Vartry Water Supply Scheme to secure the water supply to areas of Mid Wicklow including Rathdrum, Aughrim, Avoca and Roundwood.