Water issues in south Meath discussed

There is a commitment of €5 million to upgrade and update the water plant at Trim to make it reliable and fit to use into the future, Gerry Boyle, an engineer with Meath County Council told members of Trim Municipal Area Council last week.

The council is currently procuring consultants to design the project, and hopes to have them appointed by early summer. It will take about two and a half years to complete and commission, Mr Boyle said.

Addressing recent significant interferences in Trim, Mr Boyle said it is unfortunately something that is a constant on the 2,000 miles of network in the county, and some incidences can be outside normal working hours.

The main recent problem was on the Newtown Road, where works to replace the mains are due to take place in the next two to three weeks and take eight to ten weeks, costing €300,000, which he hoped would end the problems there.

Over the past year, as part of a national programme, Irish Water has been visiting older plants, like Enfield, installing automated controls to protect the plant and ensure constant good quality water.

At times, if the technology senses something it thinks may be awry, it shouts the plant down as a precaution, Mr Boyle explained.

In Enfield, Longwood, and Ballivor, because there are no reservoirs to act as storage buffers, once the system shuts itself off, there is an immediate cut off of water, which has caused a lot of interruption and discontent late last year and early this year.

Works have been carried out at Longwood and Enfield which seem to be resolving the issue.

Mr Boyle said the ultimate solution is the provision of reservoirs at each location, and the council has sought funding from Irish Water for these, which are shovel ready, and would take nine month to construct.

Meanwhile, Enfield’s wastewater treatment plant, which is almost 20 years old, and also serves Johnstownbridge and the Applegreen service station on the M4 motorway, has very little spare capacity left.

The council has been successful in getting it included on Irish Water’s current investment programme, with €8 million available to upgrade it.

The proposed plant upgrade will be the first in the country to avail of reed-based technology, which Mr Boyle said will have huge environmental benefits as the sludge can be utilised on site rather than transported to landfill.

A planning application is with the council, and a contract going to tender this summer, with a contractor to be appointed at end of this year, or early next year, with works completed at the end of 2023.

It will double the capacity of the existing plant, he added.