Major leak repair in Donegal village saves 600,000 litres of water a day

By finding and repairing a major leak in a South West Donegal village, Uisce Éireann has saved 600,000 litres of water daily. 

This significant leak in Bruckless was repaired under the Leakage Reduction Programme with enough water saved to supply the entire population of Donegal Town and Killybegs a day. 

Uisce Éireann, working with their regional contractor Farrans and Larsen Water Management, carried out an extensive review of the network under the Find & Fix scheme. 

Find & Fix involves leak detection crews undertaking surveys using multiple technologies, including sounding equipment, to locate leaks on our water network.

Patricia Lowry, Leakage Reduction Programme Manager with Uisce Éireann, described the find as “one of the largest savings of our precious resource this year in the North-West region.” 
“It’s hard to understand that more than 600,000 litres of clean drinking water were disappearing underground every day. Water is a valuable resource and expensive to produce so finding this leak and successfully repairing it was of paramount importance. For our leak detection team to have found this leak and the subsequent improvement to the network is a massive win. Enough water was saved to supply more than 4,500 people a day”. 

This project in County Donegal is one example of how Uisce Éireann is working to reduce leaks every day. Fixing leaks can be complicated. We have more than 63,000km of water pipes underground in Ireland – enough to circle the earth one and a half times. Most leaks aren’t visible, resulting in precious water being lost but we are making progress. 

For more information on the national Leakage Reduction Programme, please visit our dedicated page.

Uisce Éireann is responsible for delivering public drinking water and wastewater services for the people of Ireland. We are committed to enabling communities to thrive by continuously upgrading and developing critical infrastructure to support sustainable growth and development, providing safe drinking water, and enhancing the environment.