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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 7 Oct 1997

Vol. 481 No. 1

Adjournment Debate. - Taughmon (Westmeath) Water Scheme.

I appreciate the opportunity to raise the important matter of the Taughmon water scheme from Drummond Cross to Killucan. I wish to share my time with my colleague, Deputy McGrath. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Wallace to the House and I hope he brings us good news.

The saga of this scheme is one of the longest of any of those initiated and the patience of people living in Drummond, Clonickivant, Huntingtown, Lisnabin and Killucan who would benefit directly from the scheme, is wearing thin at this stage. The absence of a reliable water supply hinders the hard and earnest efforts of the local community groups to initiate developments to bring worthwhile projects to this large area.

The immediate approval by the Minister of State's Department of the contract documents which were lodged with the Department in 1984 for the extension of the Taughmon water supply scheme from its present extremity at Drummond Cross to Killucan would allow the abandonment of the present village source, which is very vulnerable in quantity terms.

The scheme encompasses 2,200 linear metres of 150 millimetre diameter main to the new booster pumping station, 4,225 linear metres of 150 millimetre diameter rising main to a new 1,250 cubic metre capacity distribution main to serve Killucan village and Raharney village. The estimated cost of the scheme at 1996 prices is £1,034,000. The scheme will also provide the headworks for infilling by group schemes for an area bounded by Drummond Cross, the Vee of the Downs, the Royal Canal, the county boundary to the east and to the north as far as Craddenstown, Killucan and back to Drummond Cross.

The scheme will also boost the low pressure supply in the Wooddown area and in effect this scheme will provide water for a population equivalent of approximately 5,000 persons. It will also allow for future development as well as permit the expansion of the rural hinterland served by this proposed scheme and of course will permit further housebuilding and possible industrial developments in the areas served. This would be very important for rural regeneration and would help to keep the population in these areas.

The scheme will also help promote the conditions necessary for the development of agriculture in the area as it is a mixed farming area and a reliable water supply is vital to agriculture.

Contract documents were sent to the Department in 1984 and it is now vital that the Minister ends the uncertainty for the many people of the area who will be served by this important scheme, and indeed Westmeath County Council. He must sanction the contract documents submitted in 1984 which can be immediately updated if necessary, in order to allow the scheme to proceed to tender. We must not have any further procrastination or delay as it will only cost slightly over £1 million and with the Exchequer awash with funding right now it is payback time for the people who will benefit from this scheme. It is the least they deserve.

I thank my colleague, Deputy Penrose, for allowing me to share his time. I hope the Minister of State will have good news.

A clean and constant water supply is the right of every householder. In an age when we can send men to the moon it is surely possible that every household in Ireland can have a clean water supply. However, many people in the Killucan area of Westmeath do not have a basic supply of water, which is totally inadequate. There is a reservoir in Killucan but the supply line is unable to meet the demands put on it so the water pressure is very poor. This means that extensions to the Killucan scheme or new house connections in the area are prohibited. People are getting contaminated water and are unable to tap into the village water supply. Many wells go dry. Last year in the area around Edmondstown 15 wells went dry. A school in the area has just completed sinking its third well in a very short period at a cost of about £3,500. There is no guarantee that this well will supply the school. A new piggery was constructed in the area with a demand for 5,000 gallons of water a day. A deep level well is supplying this piggery at present, but locals fear that it will not be long before this deep level well drains the supply from their low level wells.

We cannot tolerate this any longer. The contract documents for this scheme are in the Department for the last 13 years. When initially submitted to the Department, they would have cost about £500,000 to implement. The cost would now be in excess of £1 million. Other brook schemes would flow from this scheme to facilitate a much wider area, as outlined by Deputy Penrose. I call on the Minister of State to ensure that this scheme, if it is not approved by the end of this year, will be approved by his Department in 1998.

I thank Deputies Penrose and McGrath for raising this issue. My colleague the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Dempsey, regrets that he is unable to be present to reply to this item and he has asked me to do so on his behalf. I will outline the broader picture on investment in water and sewerage services before I specifically deal with the proposal to extend the Taughmon scheme.

This year's water and sewerage services capital work programme is the largest in the history of the State. It represents an increase of nearly 20 per cent in real terms on the 1996 programme, which was also set at a very high level. The provision of over £150 million this year for water and sewerage services is solid evidence of the continued commitment to improving the country's environmental infrastructure and to meeting the existing and projected needs arising from residential, economic and other development. The investment programme for 1997 will ensure that up to 60 major public schemes will start this year with a final value estimated to be in the region of £250 million.

County Westmeath has benefited from this substantial level of investment. This year's water and sewerage services capital work programme provides for schemes amounting to approximately £3.25 million to proceed to construction. These include the provision of sewerage facilities in the West Bank area of Athlone and the extension of the Mullingar water supply scheme to serve Tyrrellspass. Work is already under way on two further schemes with a combined cost of more than £6.5 million. These schemes involve the provision of sewerage facilities for Moate and the provision of water supplies to Ballynacargy, Moyvore and Ballymore. Work on a water leakage detection scheme has also been approved recently.

Turning to the specific proposal raised by Deputies Penrose and McGrath, contract documents to extend the Taughmon regional water supply, from Drumman Cross to Killucan, have been submitted to the Department of Environment and Local Government. This proposal is estimated to cost almost £500,000. Deputies will appreciate that, given the high level of existing commitments under the water and sewerage services capital programme, it is not possible to say when this proposal will be approved. However, the Deputies can be assured that the scheme will be considered in the context of the prioritisation of schemes for the work programme in future years.

The Dáil adjourned at 9.30 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 8 October 1997.

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