Communities across Leitrim benefitting from Kevin’s Love of engineering

Information below is relevant until further updates are provided here or on our Supply and Service Updates section

The person responsible for delivering a safe and reliable water supply for almost 24,000 Uisce Éireann customers across County Leitrim is Kevin Love.

Kevin is Uisce Éireann’s Water Treatment Operations Manager for County Leitrim and leads a team of more than 20 water service employees working hard to bring a secure, safe, and sustainable water service for the people of the county.

It is a role which is both challenging and rewarding for the Sligo native. Speaking during Engineers Week, which runs until Friday, 7 March, Kevin is grateful for the many opportunities that his Civil Engineering degree has provided him with during a career which has spanned over 20 years in water services.

Kevin has an extensive knowledge of the water supplies, pipe network and distribution of water across Leitrim, having worked as a technician with Leitrim County Council prior to the establishment of Uisce Éireann.

“When I was with a technician with Leitrim County Council one of my roles within Water Services was surveying all the network mains across the county, part of a national initiative. This involved mapping all the water mains in Leitrim, so it was a solid foundation for the role that I now have in the county,” he explained.

With close to 1,300 km of water mains across County Leitrim, Kevin’s previous experience has stood him in good stead to meet the challenges of supply and demand in the county.

He thoroughly enjoys working as an engineer and feels that the education he received in Sligo IT has been instrumental in the problem-solving role that he carries out daily.

“When you’re working in frontline water operations no two days are ever the same, and I thrive on that. The situation is constantly evolving and thinking on your feet and adapting to change is a key part of what my team and I do daily.

“Whether it’s a watermains burst and organising a repair, or a chemical issue at a water treatment plant, to calculating energy usage at a pump station and working to see if you can reduce that – it just makes your day and your week fly by. You must be clued in, engaged and constantly problem solving.

“I really feel that people with an interest in engineering should consider pursuing it at Third Level. I have never looked back and got a job straight out of college which counts for a lot. It is a wide and varied role with endless opportunities. There’s no mundane day, it’s very hands on and there’s great learning in the role.”

Kevin and his team work diligently to ensure that there is always water coming out of the taps for Uisce Éireann’s customers, but he acknowledges the increase in usage across South Leitrim in recent times and is constantly looking at ways to safeguard supply.

“The Carrick-on-Shannon Water Treatment Plant, which supplies customers across South Leitrim, is operating at capacity. There is only a certain amount of water that we can treat safely, so we must maximise our storage to build resilience into the scheme. Key to the supply/demand balance is reducing leakage across the network, so every 100 litres of water saved daily is crucial for South Leitrim where we’re at capacity when it comes to water production. That’s where the input from the public is crucial. If they see a leak, we would urge them to report it to us,” he explained.

Kevin is fortunate to have excellent colleagues working alongside him in County Leitrim and has praised the efforts of the team he leads for the service provided to customers.

“I’m proud of the work that Uisce Éireann is doing in County Leitrim to provide clean and safe drinking water for our customers. It’s work that goes on 365 days a year, often efforts that go unnoticed, but our team is out there, on the frontline, delivering for our customers. We have a team of 20 working every day for our customers in Leitrim. People will have seen the challenges of recent storms but the dedication of our staff during that time was unwavering. Our team members are part of their communities in Leitrim and are motivated to deliver an excellent service for their communities.”

That passion for delivering for customers which he shares with his team in Leitrim has been key to Kevin’s success in the several roles that he has enjoyed since he joined Uisce Éireann more than 10 years ago.

When Uisce Éireann (then Irish Water) was established in 2014, Kevin jumped at the opportunity to bring his skills and experience to the national utility. In the years since he joined, Kevin has relished the opportunities and learning he has amassed along the way.

“The creation of Uisce Éireann enabled a transformation in the way that water services are delivered across Ireland. I could see that it was the future for water services and an opportunity to efficiently address the many issues and risks to delivering water services in Ireland.

“The main benefit in merging the 31 local authorities into one single entity is that it has ensured that customers have the one standard, the same level of service and a consistency across the board. Being part of that change and transformation is really rewarding.”

The Ballymote resident is acutely aware of the challenges facing Leitrim and the counties in the North West when it comes to delivering water services now and into the future and welcomes the ambition of Uisce Éireann to plan for the next 25 years in its National Water Resources Plan (NWRP).

“The NWRP is our plan to identify how we will provide a safe, sustainable, secure and reliable water supply to our customers for now and into the future whilst safeguarding the environment. The NWRP sets out how we will balance the supply and demand for drinking water over the short, medium and long term. We’ve had two major wind storms in the last four months. We’re working hard to evolve and adapt to those type of events. It means being able to provide for alternative power supplies at fixed sites and mobile sites, depending on where storms hit, so it’s building resilience into those sites. In Leitrim, many of the sites do not have fixed term generators, due to the location of the assets. But we’re committed to delivering for our customers and ensuring that we’re providing a dependable and resilient service.”