Irish Water, in partnership with Limerick City and County Council and supported by RPS and Roadbridge, have recently completed a 12 month contract to find and fix leaks on the public water network.

As part of the project, leak detection and repair crews have been finding leaks on roads, footpaths and other public areas, and carrying out repairs. Leakage has also been addressed by upgrading valves throughout the network. Approximately 100 valves along the public network in Limerick have been replaced. In addition, almost 3km of aged and problematic water mains have been replaced.

As a result of the work, over 3.5 million litres of treated water which had been lost to leakage every day is now available to supply homes and businesses in the city. Project has secured a more reliable water supply for homes and businesses

This has resulted in a more secure and reliable water supply for homes and businesses throughout the city, improved water quality and savings in the cost of providing treated water to the community.

Image source: Irish Water

Irish Water offers First Fix Free Scheme for free leak repairs on customer property

As part of the national Leakage Reduction Programme, the water company is also continuing to deliver a programme to remove lead from the public side of water service connection pipes. A water service connection is the water pipe that connects a customer’s property to the public water main in the street*. Over 350 public side lead services across the city have been removed as part of this improvement programme.

Another scheme ongoing across County Limerick as part of Irish Water’s national Leakage Reduction Programme is the First Fix Free Scheme which provides for free leak repairs on a customer’s property.

Information obtained from reading the meters installed during the domestic metering programme allows the utility to identify possible leaks on individual properties. The First Fix Free scheme offers free leak investigations and free repairs for qualifying properties where a constant flow of water is found on the outside water supply pipe. 

Alan Morrissey, Irish Water’s Leakage Reduction Programme Regional Lead, commented:

“Communities across the city will benefit from the leakage savings we are making as part of this programme. We would like to thank householders and businesses across the city for their patience and support as we deliver these essential water network improvements.

“We all have a role to play in saving water and I would appeal to people in Limerick to continue to report leaks in the public water network and to avail of the First Fix Free scheme to address leaks on their own property.”

Leakage of treated water is a big problem for Irish Water due to the age and poor condition of much of the country’s water supply network. To address this, the water company is investing €500 million over the next four years to tackle leakage across the country.