Rural Water Programme / Sligo & Environs Water Supply

Major Group Schemes
Corrick/Balinafad
This scheme was originally intended to provide water to 42 houses, but has been extended to serve 85 houses and the new Field Studies Centre in Ballinafad. The scheme is served from 6 springs with ‘back-up’ from Lough Arrow, which ensures continuity of supply. The installation of this scheme was pivotal in facilitating new housing development in Ballinafad.

Lacken/Enniscrone
Before the new scheme was installed water was sourced from a well and the quality was totally unsatisfactory. The Group scheme serves 11 houses and 3 sites and cost €34,925

Caltragh/Culleens
This scheme serves 6 houses and was constructed in 2001 at a cost of €40,000.

Emlaghfad
In 1995 residents of Emlaghfad sought to link a new scheme to the Culfadda group scheme. While this proposal did not prove feasible, the extension of the Lough Talt Scheme to Ballymote provided the opportunity to get the Emlaghfad Scheme underway.

Work started on the scheme in late 2001, and involved laying 3.5 km of pipeline serving 15 houses. The total cost of the new scheme was €122,600.

Lugawarry/Lugnadeffa
This scheme involved installing 15 connections and laying 865 metres of pipeline at a cost €43,000.

Small Schemes 2001
The completion of Mullaghmore Water Supply Scheme Stage 1 entailed the laying of 5,200 metres of pipeline from Derrylehan School to Cliffoney Village. This has served to boost the water pressure in the Cliffoney Area.

Takeover of Group Schemes
Killavil
This scheme was constructed 25 years ago. Bursts were a regular problem on different sections of the scheme, and 6.6 kilometres of watermain was replaced. Bulk meters, individual meters, air valves, sluice valves and scour valves were also fitted. Work carried out in 2001 included the fitting of metres and valves along the length of the scheme.

Cloonloo
The scheme was installed in 1981 and serves 131 houses and 97 farms. Work carried out in 2001 included the fitting of metres and valves along the length of the scheme.

Roadstown
The Roadstown scheme was constructed in the mid 1980’s to supply 55 houses and 14 farms with water. Taking over the scheme involved fitting bulk and individual metres and the replacement of air valves and sluice valves

Small Sewerage Schemes
Work has started on Monasteraden Sewerage Scheme, which involves the construction of a Treatment plant and laying of sewers. The new scheme will serve Monasteraden village and is designed for a ‘population equivalent’ of 400 people.

Strategic Rural Water Programme
In September 2001, Sligo County Council adopted a ‘Strategic Rural Water Plan’. The plan sets out to…

• Ensure that all consumers on public mains and group water Schemes are provided with an adequate supply of water which complies with EU Drinking Water Standards.
• Provide new group schemes in areas which do not have a water Supply at present
• Upgrade existing group water schemes with deficiencies in their Networks
• Prepare and implement a programme of water conservation

Lough Gill Water Supply
The operation and maintenance of Foxes Den Treatment Plant has been assigned to Celtic Anglian Water on a 10 year contract which came into effect in September 2001.

Serviced Land Initiative
This scheme was introduced to enable Local Authorities to complement their water and sewerage infrastructure. Any scheme developed under this initiative requires 60% funding from the Local Authority, 40% being met by the Department of the Environment and Local Government.

A number of schemes are being progressed under this initiative, including:

• Cliffoney
• Grange
• Strandhill
• Ballinacarrow
• Tubbercurry

In the current year it is hoped to start the schemes in Strandhill and Grange, and to progress to ‘contract award’ stage in Tubbercurry.

Major Schemes in Planning
Water and Sewerage Services Investment Programme (WSSIP)

Ballincarrow/Cregg/Rosses Point Sewerage Treatment Scheme
A preliminary Report has been submitted to the Department of Environment and Local Government for approval. If the scheme is approved in its current format, treatment will be by means of the new Sligo Main Drainage Plant at Far Finisklin, which is due to be commissioned in 2004.

Carraroe Main Drainage
The Preliminary Report for this scheme is being finalised. If the report is approved by the Department of the Environment and Local Government, it will then go to full design stage.

Complete Information System (CIS)
This system will enable Sligo County Council to provide a complete information and mapping system of its water supply network. It will include information on properties connected to the scheme, and the location of valves, metres and hydrants.

The CIS system also offers a ‘Remote Reading facility’ which will replace the traditional manual method of reading metres.

Water Conservation
Large amounts of water abstracted and treated for consumers is wasted. The aim of the ‘Water Conservation’ Programme is to identify and reduce leakages in watermains. The programme will focus initially in two areas

• Lough Talt/Lough Easkey
• North Sligo Regional Water Supply Scheme

Sligo County Council intends to seek funding to extend the scheme to other areas of the county.

Sligo and Environs Water Supply Scheme
In December 1997 work started on the Sligo and Environs Water Supply scheme. In June 2001 Stage 1 of the £23m scheme was officially opened by Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Noel Dempsey, TD.

The Sligo and Environs scheme was designed to provide for the domestic, agricultural and industrial water requirements for the Borough of Sligo and surrounding areas. The many benefits of the scheme include the elimination of restrictions on residential, commercial and industrial development, and the reduction of leakages in the existing water supply distribution system.

One element of the contract was the rehabilitation of the weir and construction of a footbridge across the Garavogue River. The weir will help sustain water levels, and the footbridge has proved a very welcome facility for residents in Abbeyquarter, as it provides ready access to the Mall, General Hospital and Sligo Institute of Technology.

A new modern treatment plant was constructed at a cost of £6.5 million. Located at Foxes Den overlooking the city, it provides treated water to comply with all EU regulations. The scheme also entailed the laying of approximately 30 km of trunk and distribution mains throughout the Borough area. A technique known as ‘Directional drilling’ was used, which significantly reduced the need to excavate roads and minimised traffic disruption throughout the contract. This work led to a major reduction in the problem of leakages in the existing water supply network.

The main features of Stage 1 of the Scheme are

• Weir rehabilitation and footbridge
• Intake pumphouse on shores of Lough Gill
• Water Treatment Plant and storage reservoir at Foxes Den
• Laying of 30km of trunk and distribution pipework
• Refurbishment of exising ozonisation treatment plant at Cairns Hill