Uisce Éireann is to invest over half a billion euro in 30 critical water supply projects over the next decade to upgrade treatment plants, build new trunk mains, and install new strategic water storage facilities.
It said this is essential to ensure water infrastructure keeps pace with the growing population and housing needs.
Water supply in the eastern region operates very close to, and sometimes above, full capacity.
To prevent regular outages, Uisce Éireann resorts to pressure management, storage optimisation and conservation measures.
Its preferred long-term solution is to bring water to the east from the River Shannon, but that project could take until the mid-2030s to achieve.
The big challenge in the meantime is how to maintain water supplies in the face of steadily increasing demand from communities, homes, businesses and essential services across Louth, Meath, Kildare, Dublin and Wicklow.
That is what Uisce Éireann’s new Water for Growth Programme is about.
Half a billion euro is to be invested in drinking water projects in the eastern region over the next ten years.
This is in addition to the investment of €420m over the next five years in intensive leak reduction, without which up to 250 million litres of water per day would be lost.
The programme includes water treatment plant upgrades, including a €64m upgrade to the Leixlip Water Treatment Plant to enhance the security of water supply for 620,000 people.
It also includes new trunk mains from Ballycoolin to Kingstown, and strategic water storage facilities in the greater Dublin area.
Uisce Éireann said the new investment programme will boost capacity and modernise existing infrastructure, and improve the security and reliability of water supply in the east for the next ten years.
Resiliance is an issue
Uisce Éireann's Regional Water Operations Manager for the Eastern Region, Stephen Burke, said one of the main issues in the system is resilience.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said growth is happening "at a pace of knots".
"We expect massive population increase over the coming years. We do have an ageing network that we're investing heavily in bringing up to speed."
Mr Burke said today's launch of the Water for Growth program is at the Leixlip Water Treatment Plant, one of the projects focused on providing greater resilience.
He said there are 30 infrastructure projects.
"These are part of an overall national capital investment programme in excess of €12bn in water infrastructure across the country over the next 10 years, primarily treatment plant upgrades, reservoir enhancements and network upgrades," he said.
He explained that a number of these projects are already in train and the Leixlip water treatment plant is an upgrade of the second largest water treatment facility in the country.
"We're nearing completion of phase two, and we have another number of phases yet to complete," he said.
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