Councillor unhappy following meeting with Uisce Éireann

Meeeting a “wasted exercise”

A meeting between Westmeath County Council elected members and representatives of Uisce Éireann has been described as “wasted exercise”. On Monday, May 18 councillors met with officials from the utility company to discuss services in the county.

The local authority regularly seeks meetings with Uisce Éireann to talk about local infrastructure, treatment plant upgrades, and ongoing leakage reduction programs.

“In my view it was a wasted exercise,” Cllr Mick Dollard, Cathaoirleach, Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad, said of the meeting, “I'm sure most of the other councils will concur with that now.”

Cllr Dollard berated the utility company for their lack of engagement on local issues at the meeting: “Uisce Éireann are a law unto themselves, they do their own thing. That was just another service that was taken away from the local authorities. They don't seem to be answerable to anybody.”

He felt no new information was revealed during the meeting: “We put questions about capital projects to the people who should be au fait with capital projects. We talked about residential development, and if they're going to have a public water supply to service them. They couldn't really answer those questions.”

At present the Uisce Éireann website indicates that the upgrading of the Portloman Water Treatment Plant in Mullingar is continuing. This work is to ensure a safe and secure water supply to local residents and businesses.

Uisce Éireann, working in partnership with Westmeath County Council, is progressing works as part of an upgrade to the Portloman Water Treatment Plant. The Portloman Water Treatment Plant is located at Lough Owel, northwest of Mullingar. It supplies Mullingar and surrounding areas with drinking water. This investment will ensure the delivery of a clean, safe drinking water source for Mullingar.

The existing water treatment plant uses membrane ultrafiltration technology as the main treatment process. This treatment plant will be upgraded to optimise the plant with the provision of new pH correction facilities and install a new orthophosphate dosing facilities.

The work will also include modifications and upgrades to chemical storage and the electrical installation and the replacement of the membrane ultrafiltration units.