Minister Phil Hogan has approved the necessary funding to allow Dublin City Council to award €5.84m contract for the Dublin Region Watermains Rehabilitation Project. This contract is being financed under the Department of the Environment’s Water Services Investment Programme 2010-2013.

This contract, which is an element of a coordinated approach to arrest water leakage in the Dublin Region, involves rehabilitation works in the Gardiner Sreet., Camden Street Upper, Clanwilliam Place, North Strand Road, Terenure Road North and Sean Moore Road areas of the city. Work on the overall scheme is being carried out in a number of tranches and, with 135 kilometres of watermains already replaced from the target total of 250 kilometres, the outcome should be improvement in the quality and reliability of the water supply to the public, supporting commercial and industrial activity so crucial to economic recovery.

Mains rehabilitation work is a key priority under the Department of the Environment’s Water Services Investment Programme. Minister Hogan’s approval of the funding for this contract reflects both the need to deliver to consumers a drinking water supply that is reliable and fully compliant with drinking water standards and the priority being given to water conservation and to addressing unsustainable levels of unaccounted for water in the distribution system.

This approval clears the way for work to commence. I will be asking Dublin City Council to get construction underway as quickly as possible.