
Major wastewater infrastructure upgrade in Meath completed
It involved converting the existing Stamullen Wastewater Treatment Plant into a modern pumping station, which now transfers all local wastewater to the Balbriggan Wastewater Treatment Plant for full treatment.
Approximately six kilometres of new twin rising mains have been installed, connecting Stamullen to the Balbriggan sewer network at Cardy Rock.
The system has been designed to accommodate future wastewater flows from the nearby village of Gormanston, ensuring long-term viability for the growing population.
Uisce Éireann's Conor Delaney welcomed the completion of the works.
He said: 'This project not only provides the infrastructure needed to support future housing and population growth, but also delivers real environmental benefits by removing the discharge of treated wastewater to the River Delvin.'
'We are delighted to have delivered this upgrade for the community, helping to protect local water quality while ensuring Stamullen has the water services it needs to thrive.'
With the wastewater now being transferred for treatment in Balbriggan, the decommissioning of the old treatment plant in Stamullen will mean a significant reduction in environmental impact locally.

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Irish Independent
07-08-2025
- Irish Independent
Major wastewater infrastructure upgrade in Meath completed
The Stamullen Wastewater Scheme is expected to bring long term environmental benefits for the communities of Stamullen and Gormanston. It involved converting the existing Stamullen Wastewater Treatment Plant into a modern pumping station, which now transfers all local wastewater to the Balbriggan Wastewater Treatment Plant for full treatment. Approximately six kilometres of new twin rising mains have been installed, connecting Stamullen to the Balbriggan sewer network at Cardy Rock. The system has been designed to accommodate future wastewater flows from the nearby village of Gormanston, ensuring long-term viability for the growing population. Uisce Éireann's Conor Delaney welcomed the completion of the works. He said: 'This project not only provides the infrastructure needed to support future housing and population growth, but also delivers real environmental benefits by removing the discharge of treated wastewater to the River Delvin.' 'We are delighted to have delivered this upgrade for the community, helping to protect local water quality while ensuring Stamullen has the water services it needs to thrive.' With the wastewater now being transferred for treatment in Balbriggan, the decommissioning of the old treatment plant in Stamullen will mean a significant reduction in environmental impact locally.


Irish Times
28-07-2025
- Irish Times
How to save water: The average Irish person uses 133 litres a day
How long do you spend in the shower? If it's more than eight minutes, that's above average. Reduce your time washing by just 60 seconds and you could save 15 litres of water with every shower. But why be bothered with saving water anyway? There's hardly a shortage in rainy Ireland, and isn't water free? Yes, water covers 71 per cent of the planet , but only 1 per cent is available to us as drinking water. We share this with animals and plants, as well as using it in our homes and businesses. Water isn't an unlimited resource, and getting clean, safe water to our taps is not without cost. READ MORE Uisce Éireann treats 1.7 billion litres of water for homes and businesses every day. The water comes from rivers, lakes, springs, wells and groundwater, but getting it to your sink or shower is harder than it looks. There are money and resources involved in sourcing, treating, storing and distributing water all the way to your home. Drinking water needs to meet European Drinking Water standards so that it's safe to drink. There's the cost of collecting and treating your wastewater, and to its return to the environment too. Yes, Ireland experiences high levels of annual rainfall, but much of the water is lost due to old water infrastructure, says Uisce Éireann. Summer is putting extra pressure on the system, it says. Water supplies in 12 counties officially entered 'drought status' earlier this month. Reduce your laundry by one cycle a week and you can save up to 13 litres of water. Photograph: Getty Images 'Really consider' your water usage, Uisce Éireann asks all of us. The average person in Ireland drinks, cooks, launders, showers, waters and flushes their way through 133 litres of water a day. If you think you're pretty careful about your usage, a handy online calculator from Uisce Éireann will tell you how much you are saving compared to others, and what you can do to save more. First, the kitchen. By only using your dishwasher or washing machine when fully loaded, you'll save 23 litres of water a week, says Uisce Éireann. Go a step further and reduce your laundry by one cycle a week and you can save up to 13 litres of water. Drop one dishwasher cycle a week and you can save up to 10 litres of water. How many of us run the tap to get colder drinking water? Chill your water in a jug in the fridge instead and you'll save a whopping six litres a day, that's 42 litres a week. There are savings to be made on water usage in the bathroom. Photograph: Getty Images Running the tap to wash fruit and vegetables wastes a lot of water too. Use a bowl of water instead, and you'll save 91 litres of water. When you're finished, you can use it to water your plants. There are savings to be made in the bathroom too. Reduce your shower time by 60 seconds and you can save over 100 litres in a week. You can also brush up on savings at the sink. Leave a tap running and it uses six litres of water a minute. Turn off the tap while you brush your teeth, for example, and you could save a whopping 84 litres of water a week. Fix a dripping tap and you'll save 150 litres of water. If you haven't got a dual full flush, half flush loo, think about installing a toilet cistern bag. Sitting in the cistern, this reduces the amount of available space there. When you flush, less water can travel back to the cistern. This could save up to 105 litres of water every week. A garden, if you have one, can get pretty parched this time of year. Use a watering can to douse your plants instead of a garden hose and you'll save an average of 25 litres of water a week. Running a hose for just one hour uses as much water as a family would typically need in an entire day, says Uisce Éireann. Better still, if you've got space, install a water butt to collect rainwater from your gutters. Using this to water your garden can save an average of 25 litres of water a week. By using only what we need, we can all play our part in conserving Ireland's resources.


Irish Independent
17-07-2025
- Irish Independent
Cork's roads left in 'appalling state' by utility companies
At this week's meeting of the council, Cllr Deirdre O'Brien put down a motion calling on the local authority to write to utility providers and service contractors, expressing dissatisfaction with the quality of reinstatement works on the county's roads. Cllr O'Brien said that the works 'are nothing short of appalling in places.' She described Uisce Éireann as 'the bane of our lives', while Eir and National Broadband Ireland 'are just absolutely appalling, the mess they're leaving after them'. The Fermoy councillor said the reinstatement works are often substandard, poorly finished and 'in many cases an outright hazard'. "Lumps of tar literally thrown around, potholes, dykes pulled out and, in some cases, trees cut into limbs left in drains, which leads to blocking the drains later on.' She said the work 'compromises the structural integrity of our roads, it accelerates deterioration, it poses risks to our drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians, and shows disregard for the public realm that we all share a duty to protect'. There was widespread agreement among the other councillors present. Cllr Dominic Finn said that if contractors 'can get away with it, they'll chance it and they'll leave some of the reinstatement of the verges and the roads not done'. Cllr Sheila O'Callaghan said that the main street in Watergrasshill 'had 50 shades of grey from all the different people who had hacked at it and laid different surfaces, which makes it very unsightly'. In North Cork there are so many roads that had been looked after by our engineers and then wrecked by some other agency that has come in and left them in an appalling state,' said Cllr Kay Dawson. 'In Carrigaline we're waiting over 18 months for Irish Water to come back into an estate to patch up an area they took up' while Cllr Audrey Buckley said she's been waiting over four years for Eir to fix inspection covers on a footpath in Crosshaven that's part of the Safe Routes to School scheme,' Cllr Patrick Donovan added. Cork County Council Divisional Manager Niall Healy told the meeting that the local authority received over 5,000 applications for road opening licences last year. Uisce Éireann made up over 60 per cent, Eir 17 per cent, National Broadband Ireland 14 per cent and the remainder were ESB Networks and private contractors. He said that the conditions included within the licence require that the road be reinstated to the standard in which it was before the works were carried out. 'There are two issues that we monitor very closely. One is the timeliness, the other is the quality of the work that's carried out. 'We've had an issue with Uisce Éireann over the last two to three years where temporary reinstatements were being done, but they weren't being followed through with permanent reinstatements. So there was a legacy backlog right across the county in relation to Uisce ireann works,' he continued. Mr Healy added that the council has had several meetings with the national water utility and the situation has 'improved enormously'. "You may have seen blitzes by Uisce Eireann across the county where they've moved into particular geographic areas and they've done a lot of permanent reinstatements.' He concluded that the situation 'should be an improving one' but having the council is conscious that there are issues out there and they are being monitored. Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.