Deputy Frank Feighan welcomes €3.6m in capital funding to address high percentage of water leakage in Roscommon

Fine Gael Deputy Frank Feighan has welcomed Environment Minister Phil Hogan’s announcement of €3.6m in capital funding to address the high percentage of water leakages in Roscommon’s existing water supply network.

“Recent evidence indicates that at least 50% percent of the water produced in Roscommon is being lost because of issues such as widespread leaks and poor infrastructure. This leakage is also a huge and unnecessary burden in the overall cost structure and for the consumer.

“I am well aware that Roscommon County Council is taking this matter very seriously and has a dedicated Water Conservation scheme which will use this important funding to identify and repair critical water mains that have leaks.

“This allocation of €3.6m for Roscommon will include four additional Water Conservation Contracts in the county, also resulting in positive implications for local jobs. The contracts are:

• A Direct Labour Contract proposing work on 18 sections of watermain measuring almost 12 kms

• A contract to replace some 28 kms of watermain at 26 different locations

• Two further contracts proposing to replace some 3kms of watermain at North Roscommon (Fairymount supply line) and Knockcroghery/Lecarrow.

“As Minister Hogan has highlighted many times, it is difficult to justify major capital expenditure on new water supply infrastructure unless we also tackle high unaccounted for water levels in the existing supply systems. That is why the funding for water conservation has been substantially increased under the 2010 – 2013 Programme.

“This scheme is very important to Roscommon and I would like to see it progressing through to construction with the minimum of delay. In that regard, Minister Hogan will be asking Roscommon County Council to advance these contracts to construction as quickly as possible”.