The completion of a new €59 million reservoir in Saggart, Co Dublin, a key piece of infrastructure enhancing the security and resilience of the water supply across the Greater Dublin Area (GDA), was marked at an event at the facility on Friday.
Undertaken by Uisce Éireann it is designed to cater for population growth and the threat from climate change.
A €29 million trunk water main from Ballycoolin reservoir to Swords in North Dublin has also come on stream. This will transfer up to 90 million litres of water a day and “support existing and future residential developments as well as large institutional and commercial entities including local hospitals and Dublin Airport”.
The utility said it is to spend €30 million to further enhance Leixlip water treatment plant in Co Kildare to increase the resilience and capacity of Ireland’s second largest water treatment facility. This will provide an additional 63 million litres of water per day.
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Speaking at Saggart reservoir, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien said the size and scale of the task to improve water services for a modern growing economy should not be underestimated.
The GDA projects, totalling €118 million, would play a key role in supporting housing and industry, he said. “It will also help futureproof our water supplies as we face challenges that are likely to be presented by factors such as population growth and climate change.”
The Saggart project is a covered water storage reservoir, equivalent in size to 40 Olympic swimming pools with capacity to store 100 million litres of treated drinking water produced at Ireland’s largest water treatment plant in Ballymore Eustace, Co Kildare.
Uisce Éireann programme manager Jessica Dale said: “To improve how this Goliath structure fits snugly into the landscape and enhance biodiversity, we have carefully designed and planted the roof of the reservoir, spanning an area three times the size of Croke Park, with wildflowers.”
The old reservoir in Saggart served Dublin for over 70 years. “This new reservoir will benefit more than 650,000 people across Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow and Meath. Coffey Construction completed the works to the highest possible standards and installed the most up to date technology,” said Uisce Éireann chief operations officer Eamon Gallen.
While the GDA projects were critical to securing supplies in the short to medium term, the country needed to ensure security into the future through the Water Supply Project for the Eastern and Midlands Region, taking water from the river Shannon, he said. “Our dependence on the river Liffey leaves us vulnerable to risks such as prolonged drought and/or contamination.”
This project would support supply needs for up to 50 per cent of the country’s population, he added. It is due to bring treated water from Parteen Basin to Peamount, Co Dublin, with capacity for offtakes in Tipperary, Offaly and Westmeath – and enable supplies serving Dublin to be redirected back locally in Carlow, Wicklow, Meath and Louth.
The Government has approved the project in principle under its infrastructure guidelines. It is expected to cost up to €6 billion with a construction timeline of four-five years subject to planning.
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