Kildare's Water Supply Is On A "Knife Edge" As Population Increases, According To Uisce Eireann

Friday, 28 March 2025 16:47

By Martin Osborne

It's asking for a further €1.7 billion euro in ring-fenced funding to build infrastructure to enable housing development.

Water supply in Kildare, Dublin and Wicklow is "on a knife edge."

Uisce Eireann says the system is struggling to keep up with the challenges of a growing population and economy.

The utility is seeking support from the Government in light of the promise on page 40 of the programme for Government to build 300,000 new homes by 2030.

It's asking for a further €1.7 billion euro in ring-fenced funding to build infrastructure to enable housing development.

It's also asking for improvements in planning processes to allow it to deliver projects in a timely manner.

In a lengthy statement issued to Kfm today, Uisce Éireann says the system in the greater Dublin area was built for 500,000 people.

However that infrastructure is serving three times that number, which is also constantly growing.

Uisce Éireann added its progressing with a planning application for its water supply project, connecting the Parteen Basin of the Shannon with Dublin.

The Government gave its sign off on this project to go to planning last year.

The project involves abstracting water from the Parteen Basin on the Lower River Shannon, treating it near Birdhill, Tipperary, and piping it 170km through Tipperary, Offaly, and Kildare to a reservoir in Peamount, Dublin.

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