Water mains €2m upgrade

DUNDALK town centre and outlying roads are set to get a €2 million water mains upgrade over the next year, the Municipal District Committee heard at their September meeting.

Irish Water presented the latest plans to members on the ‘Dundalk Rehabilitation Works’ project, revealing that 786 individual homes are set to benefit from the massive piping upgrade through the town.

Works have already begun on the multi million euro project, which will extend from Mount Avenue and the Dublin Road to Bridge Street and the Newry Road in the north of the town.

Crucial to the project is traffic management set to be put in place during some of the more extensive works, although no full road closures are planned.

The contractor has also been instructed not to carry out any works during pre Christmas trading in December.

Councillors heard that the works are designed to upgrade a 9.2 kilometres stretch of piping through the town, some of which has been in place for up to eighty years.

Areas listed for works over the next year include The Crescent/Ardee Road, Bridge Street, Clanbrassil Street, Legion Avenue and McSwiney Street, Marian Park, Mount Avenue, Malachy’s Villas/Brook Lane, Newry Road, Brook Street and Ardee Terrace, Old Muirhevna, Dublin Road and the Barrack Street/ Peter Street/Point Road stretch.

Irish Water also advised that water supply to homes and businesses are likely to be impacted when works are being carried out in the area.

Cllr. Maria Doyle raised concerns about roads and footpaths not being properly reinstated after works are being carried out.

Her comments were backed up by Cllr. Conor Keelan who said ‘ The re-instatement of the road network by Irish Water in many cases left a lot to be desired.’

A spokesman for the company explained that reinstating any area that was excavated involved concrete with a temporary top coat of tar.

This is left for ‘settling’ for six months before the contractor then takes off the top coat and puts on a fresh layer of tar.

He said that some problems might emerge if there isn’t a proper settling time for the materials.

Cllr. Edel Corrigan asked what savings this extensive work might represent.

But councillors were told that ‘savings are not the main focus’ of the work being carried out, although he said it was set to significantly improve the quality of the infrastructure, with no leakage expected from the new piping.

Chairman Mark Dearey appealed to the company to consider the impact of water outtages for shops and businesses.

‘For a hairdressers or a butcher’s shop, being without water even for a few hours can have a huge impact on trade that day,’ said Cllr. Dearey in an appeal for the contractor to complete works in areas such as Clanbrassil Street and Bridge Street ‘ as quickly as possible.’

Meanwhile, calls for the water mains upgrade to be carried out in the area at the same time as the council’s planned Clanbrassil Street works were ‘ not feasible’ the members heard.

Director of Service Frank Pentony said that if the local authority would be ‘in real danger of losing funding’ for the town centre works if both were carried out together.

He added that the contractor for Irish Water was acting ‘completely independently’ from the council, and that it was hoped to get as much work underway as possibly on the piping before the winter months set in