Irish Water today (Tuesday, November 21) begins a three-month public consultation on the draft Regional Water Resource Plan – North West (RWRP-NW).
According to the utility, the plan sets out options for providing a more secure, reliable and sustainable water supply for 732,700 customers in the northwest region over the next 25 years.
The plan includes counties: Cavan; Donegal; Galway; Leitrim; Mayo; Monaghan; Sligo; and parts of Clare; Longford; Louth; Meath; and Roscommon. Eight islands off the coast of Ireland are also included in the region.
Irish Water’s National Water Resources Plan will identify the needs across existing supplies and the challenges and opportunities that Irish Water will face over the coming years including legislation, climate change, the environment, growth and economic development.
Water supplies
The national plan is also expected to provide a transparent roadmap on how Irish Water will plan for its water assets to align with national policy.
Given the scale of the area to be covered, the plan is being rolled out in two phases. The national plan was first adopted in the summer of 2021 and Irish Water has since moved into ‘Phase 2’ and is preparing four Regional Water Resources Plans.
The four regions are:
- Regional Water Resources Plan: North West;
- Regional Water Resources Plan: South West;
- Regional Water Resources Plan: South East;
- Regional Water Resources Plan: Eastern and Midlands.
Each regional plan is subject to its own consultation and, once adopted, all of the regional plans and the framework plan will be treated as a unified national plan.
Public consultation on the draft Regional Water Resources Plan North West launches today and will continue until February 21, 2023.
Northwest
The draft RWRP-NW describes the northwest region and the current challenges faced now and into the future in terms of delivering a safe, secure and resilient water supply.
According to Irish Water, it identifies progress made to date, for instance through leakage reductions, capital investment works, and works in progress.
There are 142 Water Treatment Plants (WTPs) in the northwest region, which collectively serve 732,700 people or 18% of the population of Ireland, via approximately 17,732km of distribution network and 119 Water Resource Zones.
These treatment plants also serve 74,000 businesses. The region itself covers approximately 26,912km².
Speaking at the launch of the public consultation, Mairéad Conlon, regional water resources strategy lead for Irish Water said: “The development of a draft plan on how Irish Water will supply water across the northwest region is an important step.
“It will allow Irish Water to review water supply needs across the region and consider local options to resolve these needs.
“The draft regional plan will offer key benefits in terms of transformation of our supplies, including the ability to cater for growth and economic development in a sustainable way, through improved interconnectivity between our supplies to ensure balanced regional development and new sustainable water sources that are adaptable to climate change,” she added.
Public consultation
Irish Water has stated that this public consultation is everyone’s opportunity to feed into the process of how the utility identifies the water supply issues in the region and determines what the options are to provide a more resilient water supply to customers.
Public webinars will be facilitated in January and February 2023. These webinars will provide information on the draft Regional Water Resources Plan – North West and allow opportunities to pose questions to the Irish Water team.
All submissions, which can be made via post or e-mail through Irish Water’s website, will be taken into consideration and responses to the issues raised will be summarised in a Consultation Report.