Ballivor reservoir wait drags on

Almost five years after the project was first announced, construction has still not commenced on the long promised new water reservoir for Ballivor.

The existing water tower has just three hours storage and tankers can be seen transporting water to boost supply on an almost daily basis to try to meet the demands of the growing village.

Uisce Eireann announced in September 2021 that it was bringing forward projects to improve the supply for Longwood, Ballivor and Enfield. A major project to improve capacity at Enfield was completed almost three years ago and the new Longwood reservoir was comissioned in September 2024.

However, Ballivor has been left behind and work has still not commenced on its upgrade.

A dedicated page on the Uisce Eireann website on the Longwood and Ballivor project outlined that a new 630 m3 above-ground treated water storage tank would be constructed at the existing Kilmurray Water Treatment Plant in Ballivor and that a new 500 m3 above-ground storage tank storage tank would be built at the existing Longwood Water Supply Zone. Longwood went ahead. Ballivor didn't.

In the meantime, Uisce Eireann has been paying a private contractor to tanker water into Ballivor, on an almost daily basis.

When asked about the planned reservoir, Uisce Eireann said upgrade works are planned for Ballivor, including a treated water storage upgrade. “Our contractor will commence compound set up in the week commencing 8th June, with the main upgrade works due to begin in week commencing 22nd June.

Water mains improvement works are also being planned and, once Uisce Éireann obtains the required licence for these works to proceed, we will advise customers of the timeline.”

Meath West TD Aisling Dempsey raised the Ballivor Water Supply issue in the Dail on Thursday saying it was “entirely unacceptable” that Ballivor had been without water for such an extended period of time.

“We are pumping billions into Uisce Eireann to maintain and upgrade our water infrastructure yet they have been promising me a simple reservoir in Ballivor since 2021

“When I was first elected in 2019, we heard about water issues on a lot of doors in Ballivor. There have been improvements but no resolution.

“Tankering huge amounts of water into the village was a temporary fix that people were willing to put up with for a short period. But enough is enough. People's appliances are breaking down, tanks are being destroyed, the local school had to close. This is completely unacceptable.

“In 2021, I was promised a reservoir for Ballivor. There is currently only three hours contingency in the system in the event of an outage. In 2024, with continuous follow up I was advised it was shovel ready and to expect the works to commence in 2025. We are now halfway through 2026 and there’s not a shovel in the ground yet.”

Replying to Deputy Dempsey Tanaiste Simon Harris agreed to raise the matter with Minister Browne and agreed there is a need for greater accountability in Irish Water to public representatives to deliver promised projects.