NI Water Invests £13m To 'Future Proof' Water Supply

NI Water has announced that a £13 million investment to improve the security of the water supply for customers in large areas of County Down and into Belfast has been completed at Drumaroad Water Treatment Works.

Mark Richardson, NI Water's Project Manager said: "We are delighted to announce the completion of this major investment at Drumaroad, which is one of NI Water's largest water improvement projects in recent years.

"The project will bring many improvements to our customers including improved security of the local water supply.

"The upgrade involved the construction of a new water storage tank, which has a capacity of 36 million litres, which is equivalent to 14 Olympic size swimming pools! The upgrade will provide additional water supply to customers, particularly during emergency situations, when we may need to shut down the main plant or when we complete other planned maintenance to our water supply network."

Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon added: "The completion of this £13 million upgrade is welcome news for the 540,000 people – a quarter of the Northern Ireland population - who will benefit directly from increased resilience and security of water supply.

"This investment will make a real difference to the lives of people living and working in parts of County Down and Belfast, particularly during emergency situations. This highlights the high returns that can be gained when we invest in our water and wastewater services and demonstrates the importance of continued investment in this critical infrastructure."

The new water storage tank will serve the existing Drumaroad Water Pumping Station and Chapel Hill Water Pumping Station to supply treated water onwards to the distribution areas. An additional Pumping Station was also constructed to transfer flows outside of normal operating conditions, which will provide extra resilience to the network.

Concluding Mr Richardson said: "I would like to thank the NI Water project team including contractor GRAHAM and RPS, who provided project management and technical support. The team successfully completed the new tank, while ensuring our customer's water supply wasn't interrupted during construction. This major project will provide improved local water supply for many years to come."

NI Water also welcomed the recent confirmation by the Executive that funding for year 1 of its business plan has been secured.