2023 date for Kiltimagh water plant upgrade
WORKS to upgrade capacity at the water treatment plant in Kiltimagh, allowing a number of local residents to finally connect into it, is scheduled for completion by mid 2023 with funding secured for the project.
However, members of the nearby Cleragh Community Water Connection (CWC) are sceptical that this delivery date can be met.
The plight of householders on the Lisduff/Cleragh scheme - around 20 in all - has escalated in recent times.
They have been going with their buckets to a roadside well in Lisduff and relying on another public well and also ones they have sunk themselves. But one well has run dry and the levels in the second have fallen, with questionable water quality, in recent weeks. Private wells have a history of drying up too during warm weather.
As a result, some residents have been forced to make trips to a garage in Kiltimagh to fill containers of water.
The community has been campaigning to get connected to the Kiltimagh water treatment plant, located a few short fields from their homes, for 10 years now.
As residents face into another summer of uncertain supply, The Connaught Telegraph asked Irish Water for an update on the scheme.
A statement from Irish Water outlined: 'The existing Kiltimagh water treatment plant is currently operating at the limit of its capacity.
'An upgrade of the existing plant is required in order to facilitate a connection for the community in Cleragh and support future growth in the area.
'Irish Water has recently secured funding to complete works at the plant which will add sufficient resilience to allow a connection from the proposed Cleragh Community Water Connection (CWC).
'The project has been handed over to Irish Water’s asset delivery team with an estimated works completion date of mid-2023.
'In the interim, Irish Water will engage with Cleragh CWC and Mayo County Council’s Rural Water Section with a view to progressing the network extension works required to facilitate the proposed connections. Once a detailed design has been finalised and a proposed contractor approved, Irish Water will work with the Rural Water Section to ensure alignment between the completion of the water treatment plant upgrade works and the network extension works.'
A spokesperson for the Cleragh scheme said they did not believe the works can be finished in 2023. The tender process has not started yet, they said, and they also noted how a specific capacity study is not available for the Kiltimagh plant. At this stage, they want Irish Water to issue a confirmation letter to Mayo County Council to advise that a connection will be provided by them once the plant upgrade is completed. This, said the spokesperson, would allow the council to tender and start to get piping in the ground for a future connection to the plant.
The committee has also submitted an information request on the status of the grant that was allocated to them, noting how costs have gone up since it was sanctioned in 2019.
"Getting the pipes in the ground is what we want now and then connect to Irish Water in the future, 2023 or unknown time line," said the spokesperson. "Mayo County Council can’t install water lines in the village without a letter from Irish Water saying there will be a connection in the future."