Progress reported on €31 million Buncrana, Ballybofey and Stranorlar Sewerage Schemes

Uisce Éireann, working in partnership with Donegal County Council, are progressing works in Buncrana as part of a €31 million investment to upgrade the wastewater infrastructure in the town.

The company says the sewerage scheme will result in significant improvements to water quality in Lough Swilly by eliminating stormwater overflows, safeguarding the environment and supporting social and economic development.

The sewerage scheme is a significant development for the towns which will see knock-on benefits to the local natural environment of Lough Swilly, as well as supporting the social and economic development of the towns. 

To date, construction of the new pipeline has progressed without impacting customers’ water supply. As part of the next phase of work, a water main diversion is needed to allow for new sewer construction on Cockhill Road. Customers advised of a planned outage tomorrow Wednesday, October 11

In order to safely facilitate the new connection, it will be necessary for the water supply to be switched off for a period of time until the connection works are completed. To minimise disruption as much as possible to homes and businesses, the outage will commence tomorrow from 6pm until approximately 12 midnight. It is planned that supply will begin to return after this time.

However, due to the size of the pipes and network, it could take a number of hours for normal supply to return to all customers as water refills the network, especially for those on higher ground or at the end of the network. 

The outage will impact customers in the following areas: Cockhill Road, Tullyarvan, Ballymacarry, Ardarava, Cleenagh, Upper and Lower Ballymagan, Clonblosk and surrounding areas. 

As per best practice, most homes and businesses will have on-site water storage to provide a backup source of water for sanitation purposes. Uisce Éireann advises customers to familiarise themselves with their storage capacity. 

Uisce Éireann’s Eunan Canavan explained: “Uisce Éireann is committed to enabling communities across Donegal to thrive by continuously upgrading and developing our critical infrastructure. These essential works along Cockhill Road, Buncrana are necessary to install new sewer pipes and increase capacity, allowing for current and future population growth of the town.

"The works will also include the decommissioning of two existing storm overflows which will improve water quality in the River Finn ensuring compliance with Urban Wastewater Treatment Regulations 2001 and the EPA Wastewater Discharge Licencing.

Eunan continued: “We understand that this type of work may be disruptive to the local community which is why our experienced water services crews will work hard to complete the works and restore normal water supply as quickly as possible.”

In order to complete the works safely and efficiently, traffic management in the form of a stop/go system will continue to be in place for the duration of the works.

Ward & Burke Water Limited are carrying out the works on behalf and of Uisce Éireann. 

Vulnerable customers who have registered with Uisce Éireann receive direct communications for planned and unplanned outages lasting more than four hours. 

Following this type of work, occasionally issues such as cloudy water (air bubbles), discolouration or internal airlocks may arise. For advice on how to resolve these issues, you can visit www.water.ie/help/supply/after-an-outage/. The Uisce Éireann customer care helpline is also open 24/7 on 1800 278 278 and customers can also contact us on Twitter @IWCare with any queries.