Advice of essential upgrade works in Athy to safeguard the water supply
Uisce Éireann is working in partnership with Kildare County Council to safeguard the water supply for homes and businesses in Athy with works to upgrade and improve the water supply due to begin next week. The works are being delivered as part of Uisce Éireann's national Leakage Reduction Programme which is facilitating significant benefits to local communities across Ireland including improved water quality, a more secure water supply and considerable water savings.
Essential water main upgrade works are scheduled to take place on Monday, 24 October at 10pm until Tuesday, 25 October at 6am. To reduce the impact on customers, the works are taking place during night-time hours and critical water users have been engaged with directly.
During these works, customers in Athy and surrounding areas may experience intermittent interruptions to their water supply to include low pressure and/or outages. These works will enable Uisce Éireann to better manage water pressure issues in Athy and also reduce the frequency of bursts in the town.
Speaking about the works, Joe Carroll, Regional Delivery Lead at Uisce Éireann said: "Uisce Éireann understands that this type of work can be inconvenient and working in partnership with Kildare County Council, we will make every effort to minimise the disruption that these necessary works may cause."
Joe added, "Customers may experience some temporary discolouration of water following the works and occasionally issues such as internal airlocks may arise. For advice on clearing discoloration and airlocks, visit our Issues During or After an Outage page."
Vulnerable customers who have registered with Uisce Éireann will receive direct communications from us for planned and unplanned outages lasting more than four hours. Typically, it takes two to three hours following restoration time for normal supply to be fully restored to all areas.
Uisce Éireann and Kildare County Council regret any inconvenience caused. The Uisce Éireann customer care helpline is open 24/7 on 1800 278 278 and customers can also contact us on Twitter @IWCare with any queries. For updates, please visit the Supply and Service Updates section of the Uisce Éireann website.
The works are being carried out by Ward & Burke Construction Ltd on behalf of Uisce Éireann.
Uisce Éireann has invested over €500 million between 2017 and 2021 to reduce leakage and replace old pipes on the public water network. We are investing a further €250 million every year up to the end of 2030. Fixing leaks can be complicated but we are making progress. In 2018 the rate of leakage nationally was 46%, by the end of 2021 it was reduced to 38%. We are on track to achieve a national leakage rate of 25% by the end of 2030.
Uisce Éireann is responsible for the delivery of all public water and wastewater services in Ireland. We are committed to continuously upgrading and developing critical infrastructure to support the growth needed in housing and across our economy, while protecting the environment and safeguarding water supplies.