Schull water works ongoing

Work is ongoing to improve the water supply in Schull, it was announced this week.

The work includes the construction of over ten kilometres of trunk main, connecting Schull to the Skibbereen Water Supply Scheme, a new treated water storage reservoir in Schull and decommissioning of the old water treatment plant in Skeagh, near Schull.

The Cork County Council and Irish Water project is part of the Skibbereen Regional Water Supply Scheme to upgrade the water supply in Skibbereen, Drimoleague, Castledonovan, Schull, Leap, Bluid and Sherkin Island.

The Skibbereen Regional Water Supply Scheme will replace local water supplies that are nearing the end of their lifespan with a new water supply scheme, which will include treatment plants, new pipelines and storage, providing the communities in these areas with a secure, safe and robust water supply for the future.

Sean Twohig, Regional Infrastructure Lead with Irish Water, said: “There have been some recent interruptions to customers’ water supply in Schull. We understand the inconvenience when an outage occurs, especially at this busy time of the year, and wish to apologise to all of those impacted by water outages recently in Schull. We want to assure the community in Schull that works are progressing well to deliver a far more secure and robust water supply to the town for the future.”

Currently, the Schull water supply area is vulnerable to outages if there is a burst in the pipe network, or if there are issues at the treatment plant.

There is no provision for storage of treated water on Sherkin Island, so the supply there is also vulnerable to outages. Sections of the existing pipeline in Drimoleague, Castledonovan, Schull, Leap and Bluid have also reached the end of their expected lifespan and require replacement.

The project commenced in 2019 and includes 35km of new watermains, upgrades to Ballyhilty and Lake Cross water treatment plants and new reservoirs at Drimoleague, Schull, Leap and Sherkin Island.