Historic day in West Mayo as €8.2m water supply project begins
Marking the commencement of the Murrisk Community Water Project were, from left: Cllr Peter Flynn, Cllr Brendan Mulroy, Colm Reilly (JPRH Castlebar), Nessa Reilly (JRPH Castlebar), Peter O’Donnell (Noel Regan Plant Hire), Shane Giblin (Noel Regan Plant Hire), Cllr Johnno O’Malley, Deputy Michael Ring TD and Cllr Christy Hyland.
The commencement of the Murrisk Community Water Connection project was marked on Friday, January 26th, when the stakeholders in the scheme - including Mayo County Council, the Department Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Uisce Éireann and the Murrisk Water Committee - came together for a photoshoot.
The €8.24 million project will serve over 500 households in the Murrisk, Lecanvey and Kilsallagh areas of West Mayo with a state-of-the-art water supply through 50km of pipelines. The area was previously supplied with water from streams on Croagh Patrick and private wells.
The project was funded by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and a local contribution from local residents, along with a contribution from Uisce Éireann to upsize the trunk main so it can be used in the future to supply the Louisburgh area. It will be delivered as a Mayo County Council Rural Water Project and when completed it will be part of Uisce Éireann’s network when work is concluded in the final quarter of 2024.
Planning for the scheme has been underway since 2019 and the contracts went to tender in 2023, following its design by SDS Consultant Engineers in Castlebar. The contractors are Noel Regan Plant Hire, Ballaghaderreen, who are responsible for the trunk main connection and JRPH Castlebar who are the distribution mains contractor.
Michael McDermott, Senior Executive Engineer, Rural Water Office, Mayo County Council, said: “The delivery of this project is based on the co-operation and partnership of all the stakeholders involved in it.
“When completed it will greatly improve the quality of water and standard of life for over 500 households in this community.
“We would like to thank all the stakeholders for their efforts in bringing this project to this stage and look forward to it being completed and fully operational come the end of year.
“It is important to remember that if you live in this area and haven’t signed up yet to be connected to it, you still can and get the benefits of this fantastic scheme.” For more information on the scheme and how to get connected to it contact Mayo County Council, Rural Water Office at: ruralwater@mayococo.ie.
