Winter days will bring bright future for Leitrim’s water supply

Uisce Éireann crews will make Leitrim their adopted home this winter as they replace almost 4km of old water main from Tullaghan to Redbrae. 

The new pipework along the L-2059 (Tullaghan to Redbrae) will put a stop to sporadic bursts and give locals more confidence in their water supply.  

Uisce Éireann's Networks Regional Lead Declan Cawley explained that the works, which will begin before the end of the month, will also put an end of the loss of treated drinking water into the ground. 

"The stretch of pipework we're replacing is old and has caused outages for locals. The benefits of this work will be felt by the entire community for generations to come."  

"Earlier this year we replaced pipework along the L6059 (Redbrae to Wardhouse) and the crossing with the N15 because it too was susceptible to sporadic bursts. All this work is improving the reliability of the water supply for locals." 

Farrans Construction will carry out the works on behalf of Uisce Éireann and are expected to be complete in March of next year. 

In the meantime, areas of works will be limited to short sections to minimise impact on customers. Traffic management will be in place with traffic lights for the Tullaghan village section and a road closure for the remaining rural section of the works, but the community can be assured that local and emergency traffic will be maintained at all times.  

The works may require some short-term water interruptions, but the project team will ensure that customers are given a minimum of 48 hours' notice prior to any planned interruptions. 

"We understand that this type of work can cause inconvenience for the local community, but our crews will make every effort to minimise any disruptions." 

This project forms part of Uisce Eireann's National Leakage Reduction Programme and will help us achieve our 2030 goal of a national leakage rate of 25%. The National Leakage Reduction team has made great strides since 2018 when the leakage rate stood at 46%. 

Since 2018, Uisce Éireann has invested more than €500 million to upgrade the underground water network across the country through the delivery of the National Leakage Reduction Programme. We are investing a further €250 million every year up to the end of 2030 - fixing leaks and replacing pipes to provide a more reliable water supply.

For more information, please visit our National Leakage Reduction Programme page.