Irish Water seeks public feedback on its draft Easter Midlands Regional Water Resources Plan
This week they published the draft plan that sets out:
- the needs within the 134 public water supplies in the region in terms of quality, quantity, reliability and sustainability.
- The draft plan aims to provide a strategic transformation from the existing fragmented supply to a sustainable interconnected supply.
- The identified solutions aim to support growth and economic development across the Eastern and Midlands Region
- It aims to reduce leakage from the existing baseline of 38% of regional demand to less than 22% of regional demand.
This is the first regional plan of 4 regional plans to be developed the National Water Resources Plan framework.
There are 201 Water Treatment Plants (WTPs) in the Eastern and Midlands Region, which collectively serve 2.48 million people or 60% of the population of Ireland, via approximately 19,000 kilometres of distribution network and 134 Water Resource Zones. These treatment plants also serve 76,000 businesses. The region itself covers approximately 20,900 square kilometres extending from the Shannon Estuary in the south west, towards the large River Boyne catchment and Greater Dublin Area (GDA) in the north east.
The draft RWRP-EM applies the methodology as adopted in the Framework Plan to (i) identify the Need across the 134 Water Resource Zones, in terms of quality, quantity, reliability and sustainability of supply, and (ii) identify Plan level solutions to meet this Need across the region.
The preferred options from the draft plan include:
- Reducing the number of Water Resource Zones (WRZ) in the Eastern and Midlands Region from 134 to 93 and developing larger interconnected WRZs for the urban areas in the region.
- Upgrades to 136 existing water treatment plants, in terms of quantity and quality performance.
- Development of four new water treatment plants (WTPs).
- Proposed decommissioning 66 WTPs.
- Interconnecting 50 supplies via 860 kilometres of trunk mains.
- Reducing leakage from the current level of 38% of regional demand to less than 22% of regional demand by 2033 to be achieved through find and fix, pressure management, active leakage control and asset replacement.
Irish Water are now seeking feedback on the public consultation for the draft RWRP: the documents are available to view on our website at www.water.ie/rwrp/easternmidlands
A thirteen-week statutory public consultation will run from the 14 December 2021 to 14 March 2022.
Submissions can be made by post or email by 14 March 2022.
Email: nwrp@water.ie Post: National Water Resources Plan, Irish Water, PO Box 13216, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
Public webinars will be facilitated in January and February 2022. If you would like to be part of an online public webinar you can provide an expression of interest on the website at www.water.ie/rwrp/easternmidlands
