Work to begin on replacing water mains in Ballynacargy

Work on replacing old cast iron water mains in Ballynacargy is scheduled to begin tomorrow morning, Tuesday September 21.

The works will involve the replacement of almost 350 metres of old, cast iron water mains along the L1902 Wood Road, Harbour Street and the R393 in the direction of Mullingar. The old mains will be replaced with new, high density polyethylene (plastic) pipes which will reduce the number of bursts and water outages impacting customers and ensure a more reliable supply of water for the local community.

The works will also involve laying new water service connections from the public water main in the road to customers’ property boundaries and connecting it to the customers’ water supply. Where existing service connections on the public side are lead, these will be replaced as part of this improvement work.

To minimise the impact on customers, Irish Water says that the areas of work will be limited to short sections. Traffic management may be in place during this time to facilitate the safe delivery of these works, however, local and emergency access will be maintained. The works may also involve some short-term supply disruptions which we understand may cause inconvenience, however, the project team will ensure that customers are given a minimum of 48 hours’ notice prior to any planned water outages. Irish Water and Westmeath County Council regret any inconvenience these necessary improvement works may cause.

The works, which are scheduled to begin tomorrow, will be carried out on behalf of Irish Water by GMC Utilities Ltd in adherence with current HSE and government guidance on COVID-19 and are expected to be completed by the end of October.

Speaking about the project Matt Thomson, Leakage Reduction Programme Regional Lead with Irish Water said: “These works are vital to ensure a more secure water supply to homes and businesses in Mullingar and are part of a significant investment by Irish Water to safeguard the water supply. We understand this type of work can be inconvenient and we will ensure our work crews make every effort to minimise any disruption these necessary works may cause. We would like to thank the community of Ballynacargy in advance for their patience and cooperation while we deliver these vital water network improvement works and safeguard the water supply now and into the future.”