Irish Water is to replace problematic watermains in Upper Lewis Road, Killarney to provide a more reliable water supply to the community.

A stop go system will be in place during the works replacing 300m of problematic watermains along the Upper Lewis Road, which will improve water quality for the community and reduce high levels of leakage.

The project will commence in late June and form part of Irish Water’s National Leakage Reduction Programme. The works, being carried out by Kerry County Council on behalf of Irish Water, are expected to be completed by the end of July.

The section of works will take place along the Upper Lewis Road from the Killarney bypass (N22) and continue 300m to the roundabout linking Upper Lewis Road and St Anne’s Road.

The works will also 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.

“Replacing these old and problematic pipes in the Upper Lewis Road will bring an all-round improvement to water quality for the local community," Steven Blennerhassett from Irish Water, explained.

"The old pipes had a history of bursting, so the new ones will reduce the drinking water lost and reduce maintenance on the water network in the area.

“There may be some short-term water outages and the project team will ensure that customers are given a minimum of 48 hours’ notice beforehand.

"The N22 is a busy road, and we are expecting some traffic delays while we carry out the works in that area. As the water mains on the Upper Lewis Road had a history of bursting, traffic delays were frequent while repair works were carried out. By strengthening the network, this should not be an issue in the future.
We understand that road works and water outages can be inconvenient, but our crews will make every effort to minimise disruption to local communities as we continue to improve the water supply in County Kerry and progress the National Leakage Reduction Programme.”

Irish Water’s customer care helpline is open 24/7 on 1800 278 278 and customers can also contact us on Twitter @IWCare with any queries. For updates please visit the Water Supply Updates section of the Irish Water website or set your location on our website www.water.ie