Irish Water has signed a contract with TES to progress the Athea Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade, a €1.5m project which will improve water quality and help facilitate future social and economic development in the area.
This is an important project which will bring significant improvements to the wastewater treatment processes in Athea and in turn protect the quality of the receiving waters.
The plant will be designed for a population equivalent (PE) of 900 people, which will ensure it has the capacity to cater for the existing population as well as projected future growth, thereby providing a platform for ongoing social and economic development.
What is involved?
The plant will be built on the site of the existing treatment plant and the project will also involve the construction of a new pumping station and 500m of new sewers.
This will also bring important environmental benefits by ending the long-running situation whereby sewage is being discharged with minimal treatment to the River Galey.
“We are very pleased to be progressing this key project which will benefit the people of Athea now and into the future by protecting local waterways and providing the capacity for future population growth,” said Sean Twohig, Capital Programmes Regional Lead.
“This will also bring important environmental benefits by ending the long-running situation whereby sewage is being discharged with minimal treatment to the River Galey.
This project will be delivered in conjunction with our contracting partners TES Group. Construction work is due to get underway this summer and is expected to take approximately 18 months to complete.”
TES Operations Director Ciaran Donnelly said “we understand the importance of the Athea Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade project for the local area. We are delighted to now have the opportunity to work with Irish Water in delivering such an important project for the Athea community, our team are looking forward to starting our programme of works shortly.”
Addressing the poor condition of Ireland’s water infrastructure Irish Water spent over €526 million on water services in 2017. Capital investment in the region of €700 million per year is needed for a sustained period of several decades to address the poor condition of Ireland’s water infrastructure. Works have been prioritised to address the most critical issues in line with commitments outlined in Irish Water’s Business Plan up to 2021. Delivery of the business plan will involve a €5.5 billion investment in capital spending on drinking water and wastewater quality and capacity and new infrastructure up to 2021 while achieving efficiencies of €1.6 billion.
