WATER SUPPLY TO 350,000 homes and businesses in parts of Dublin have been temporarily cut off today to facilitate the connection of a new water pipeline to work alongside a crucial existing pipe that dates back to the 1960s.
Irish Water is advising customers in the north of the county that water supply will be disrupted until approximately 11am while the the connection works are carried out.
The size of the pipes and the network mean it could take up to another 10 hours for normal supply to reach all areas, particularly for those on higher ground or at the end of the network.possib
The affected areas are:
In a statement, Irish Water said that “as per best practice, most homes and businesses will have on-site water storage to provide a backup source of water for sanitation purposes” and advised customers to familiarise themselves with their storage capacity.
The utility company, along with Fingal County Council, is providing an alternative water supply at a range of locations where the public can bring a container to fill with water, which should be boiled before drinking as a precaution. Some of the locations include Tesco Shopping Centre in Rush, Seaview Park car park in Portrane, St Colmcille’s GAA Club in Swords, and Portmarnock Sports and Leisure Club.
The current supply and demand of water in Dublin is tight, according to regional lead for water treatment programmes William McKnight, who outlined that “we use almost every drop of water produced each day”.
He said the new pipeline “will not only help increase the security and resilience of the drinking water supply, it will also provide the infrastructure needed to support the building of houses and schools and attract new industry to allow companies to expand and grow”.
“We understand that this necessary outage may be disruptive to the local community which is why experienced water services crews will work throughout the night to complete the connection and restore normal water supply as quickly as possible,” he said.
“I’d like to reassure our customers that the short-term inconvenience will be overshadowed by the long-term benefits that this new pipeline will deliver across North County Dublin.”
The existing water supply to north county Dublin depends in a single concrete water pipleline built in the 1960s that connects the Ballycoolin Reservoir to Swords, carrying around 60 million litres of water each day.
The pipeline regularly operates beyond capacity, resulting in low pressure at peak times of demand, according to Irish Water.
It cannot be taken out of service to be upgraded because of its importance to the network, leading to the decision to construct a €28 million parallel iron pipeline that will be able to distribute 90 million litres of drinking water each day.
The new pipeline will allow available drinking water to be diverted to certain areas during emergency repairs or improvement works on the older concrete pipeline and increase the total capacity of water that can move through the county.
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