Clonmel water supply - Irish Water looking at alternatives to Poulavanogue supply

Irish Water has said that in partnership with Tipperary County Council, it is committed to providing its customers in the Clonmel area with a safe, secure and reliable supply of water.

Clonmel Town and surrounding area is served by a combination of ground and surface water sources, with Water Treatment Plants at Monroe (ground water), Glenary (surface water) and Poulavanogue (surface water). 

Outages in recent months have highlighted ongoing issues with the town’s water supply which are associated with an ageing infrastructure for treating and supplying water in the town and surrounding areas.

To address this, Irish Water sayt they are making significant investments in the area and are continuing our work to improve the water network and safeguard water supplies.

Among the actions that are underway or have been completed are:

• The construction of a new reservoir in the townland of Giantsgrave and over 4km of new water mains and booster station, as part of the Clonmel Regional Water Supply Scheme North Storage project (complete). This has increased the security of drinking water supply to businesses and residents in the northern areas of Clonmel.

• Ongoing investment in tackling leakage and replacing old water mains and back yard service pipes throughout the town as part of the Leakage Reduction Programme. This project will see €500m invested nationally in the period to 2021 to reduce leakage and deliver a more secure and reliable water supply.

• The development of new boreholes (ground water) sources to supplement the existing sources of water in Clonmel in the event of unplanned outages or water quality issues (ongoing).

In addition to this, they are working with their partners in Tipperary County Council to enhance the treatment processes at the Poulavanogue and Glenary Water Treatment Plants to ensure that when issues arise at any time, they can be resolved as quickly as possible.

Duane O’Brien, Irish Water’s Operations Lead for Tipperary, explained: “We are working to safeguard Clonmel’s water supply through a series of short, medium and long term actions.

“The Poulavanogue water treatment plant in particular has been identified as being at risk of inadequate treatment, and is included on the EPA’s Remedial Action List (RAL). This is partly due to the nature of the raw water being supplied to the plant from an upland source.

“During periods of heavy rainfall the water can become cloudy as it picks up silt and other materials from the surrounding catchment. This can impact on the water supply, particularly in higher areas of the town.

“Irish Water is investigating the feasibility of utilising alternative groundwater sources to provide drinking water to the consumers on the Poulavanogue supply, to ensure the delivery of clean, safe drinking water, and remove this water supply from the Remedial Action List. In the meantime we will continue to work with our partners in Tipperary County Council to maintain a high quality water supply for the town.”

Irish Water will continue to keep our customers informed of planned and unplanned outages as they arise, both through their own communications channels and via local media and elected representatives. Updates are posted to our supply and service section on our website www.water.ie and on Twitter @IWCare. The Irish Water customer care helpline is open 24/7 and customers can call us on 1850 278 278.

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