Issued 25 August 2020 – Irish Water, in partnership with Cavan County Council, is replacing old problematic water mains in Shercock, Co. Cavan to provide a more reliable water supply, reduce high levels of leakage and improve water quality.

Works will take place along the Baileborough Road and will involve laying new water service connections from the public water main in the road to customers’ property boundaries and connecting it to the customers’ water supply. Where the existing service connections on the public side are lead, these will be replaced as part of this improvement work which will reduce the instances of bursts and water outages and will ensure a reliable supply of water to customers and local businesses in the area
The works will be carried out on behalf of Irish Water by Farrans and are expected to be completed by October 2020.

Speaking about the project, Irish Water’s Leakage Reduction Programme Regional Lead Declan Cawley said “Irish Water is committed to safeguarding the water supply for customers in Shercock and we are delighted to announce that these works will begin at the end of August and will be completed in October 2020.
Declan added “Replacing existing old cast iron will reduce the instances of bursts and water outages and will ensure a reliable supply of water to customers and local businesses in the area. These works will deliver cost savings by providing improved water network operation that will require less maintenance in the future.”

To facilitate the safe delivery of the works, there will be some traffic management in place during delivery. The community will be notified of this in advance. Alternative routes will be available and diversions will be clearly sign-posted. Local and emergency access will be maintained at all times

The works may involve some short-term water shut offs and the project team will ensure that customers are given a minimum of 48 hours’ notice prior to any planned water shut offs
We understand that this type of work can be inconvenient and works crews will make every effort to minimise any disruption these necessary works cause.

This project is one example of how we are working in partnership with Cavan County Council to reduce leaks every day. Fixing leaks can be complicated with over 63,000 km of water pipe in Ireland. Most leaks aren’t visible, resulting in precious water being lost but we are making progress. In 2018 the rate of leakage nationally was 46%, by the end of 2019 it was 42% and we are currently on course to achieve a national leakage rate of 38% by 2021

The National Leakage Reduction Programme helps provide a more reliable water supply to Irish communities, reduce high levels of leakage and improve water quality. Its delivery means investment of over €500 million between 2017 and 2021 to reduce leakage and replace old pipes on the water network
Residents and businesses in the area to benefit from the planned improvements have been notified and customers can phone Irish Water on 1850 278 278 if they have any questions about the project.

Details of work in the area will be updated regularly on the Water Supply Updates section of the Irish Water website at https://www.water.ie/water-supply/supply-and-service-update/
Further information on Irish Water’s Leakage Reduction Programme is also available on the Irish Water website http://www.water.ie.