Irish Water responds to Nenagh councillor's questioning of rebranding the utility

Irish Water has responded to comments from a Tipperary county councillor on its proposed rebranding to Uisce Éireann.

The Government has approved the publication of the Water Services (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2022, sponsored by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien.

The Bill provides for the separation of Uisce Éireann (Irish Water) from Ervia and its establishment as the standalone national authority for water services.

Nenagh-based Cllr Seamus Morris had questioned the logic behind the Government’s decision to rebrand the company, given that there had been close to 1,000 water outages, the majority unplanned, in the county over the past 18 months.

“Irish Water has been an expensive disaster. Why should Uisce Éireann be any different?” he asked.

An Irish Water spokesperson responded that the utility continued to work across Tipperary to improve water services and had invested significantly since 2014 to improve water and wastewater services in the Premier County and also reducing leakage.

"In general, Ireland’s water infrastructure is old and needs a multi-billion, multi annual investment. Irish Water is committed to delivering a continuous improvement in the infrastructure through this multi-annual investment and significant progress has been made already.

The spokesperson listed the projects that are complete, in progress or planned, though pointed out that the list was not exhaustive:

- Nenagh Sewerage Scheme (WWTP Upgrade)

- Clonmel Town & Rural Water Supply Scheme

- Ardfinnan Regional Water Supply Scheme  M&E Works (Ballylooby)

- Thurles Regional Water Supply Scheme Contract 2 (WTP - DBO)

- Clonmel Regional Water Supply Scheme - North Storage Reservoir

- North Tipperary - Water Conservation Stage 3 Works - Phase 1 Advanced Thurles works

- Burncourt and Fethard Regional Water Supply Scheme WTPs (Burncourt and Gortnapisha)

- Clonmel Regional Water Supply Scheme  Watermain & Borehole Contract

- South Tipperary - Water Conservation Stage 3 Works - Contract 1

- Thurles Regional Water Supply Scheme  Contract 1 (Network)

- Thurles Water Treatment Plant Advance Works - Clodiagh Intake

- Ballina (Tipp NR) Sewerage Scheme

- Cashel Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade

- Fethard Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade

- Newport (TN) Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade

- Tipperary Town Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade

- Cahir Wastewater Treatment Plant

- Kiltillance SLI, Templemore Sewerage Scheme

- Nenagh Multi Utility Project

- Clonmel Water Resource Zone WP1

- Roscrea Wastewater Network

- Borrisokane Wastewater Treatment Plant

In response to Cllr Morris's criticism of the planned Shannon pipeline project to pump 3330m litres of water per day to leaky pipes in Dublin, the spokesperson said that there was a current for 40% more water in the Eastern and Midlands Region to meet the need for new homes and support sustainable economic growth in addition to our ambitious leakage reduction programme.

The Water Supply Project which is currently at pre planning stage will provide a sustainable new source for the Region until 2050 and beyond.

It will see an abstraction of just 2% of the annual average flow from the lower River Shannon at Parteen Basin. Expert analyses over 15 years has identified project as the best solution to deliver safe, secure and sustainable water to region and to communities along the route.

In parallel, Irish Water is undertaking an ambitious leakage reduction programme working with local authorities across the country to fix on average 2,000 leaks per month.

n 2018 the rate of leakage nationally was 46%, by the end of 2021 this was 38% and we plan to reduce the national leakage rate further to 25% by the end of 2030.

This will see a further 200 million litres of drinking water which would have been lost to leakage saved daily. However, leakage reduction alone will not be enough, we still need a new source to meet the water supply region of the Region to ensure sustainability of our water sources now and into the future, they said.

The spokesperson said that Irish Water will be engaging with local authority staff directly over the coming months with the aim of building a truly national organisation which preserves local knowledge and expertise, building a world class public water service focused on customer needs, efficient water services, and supporting housing, economic development and job creation across the country.