Irish Water holds public webinars and seeks feedback on its draft Regional Water Resources Plan for the Eastern and Midlands Region

Irish Water’s statutory public consultation on its draft Regional Water Resources Plan for the Eastern and Midlands (RWRP-EM) Region will continue to run until 14 March 2022. The three-month public consultation began on 14 December 2021 and sets out the options for providing a more secure, reliable and sustainable water supply for 2.5 million customers in the Eastern and Midlands region over the next 25 years.

This public consultation is everyone’s opportunity to feed into the process of how Irish Water identifies the water supply issues in the region and determines what the options are to provide a more resilient water supply to customers. 

Public webinars will be held on February 2, 3, 7 and 8. These webinars will provide information on the draft Regional Water Resources Plan Eastern and Midlands and allow opportunities to pose questions to inform submissions. If you would like to be part of an online public webinar on the draft Regional Water Resources Plan Eastern and Midlands and associated environmental reports, you can provide an expression of interest on our website at www.water.ie/rwrp/easternmidlands

Irish Water’s National Water Resources Plan will be the first resources plan for the entire public water supply in Ireland. It is split into four regions and the first regional plan to be developed is the draft Regional Plan for the Eastern and Midlands Region.   

There are 201 Water Treatment Plants in the Eastern and Midlands Region, which collectively serve 2.48 million people or 60% of the population of Ireland, via approximately 19,000 kilometres of distribution network and 134 Water Resource Zones. These treatment plants also serve 76,000 businesses. The region itself covers approximately 20,900 square kilometres extending from the Shannon Estuary in the south west, towards the large River Boyne catchment and Greater Dublin Area (GDA) in the north east.

The draft plan describes the Eastern and Midland Region and the current challenges faced now and into the future in terms of delivering a safe, secure and resilient water supply. 

Speaking about the public consultation on the draft plan, Angela Ryan, Water Resource Strategy Specialist for Irish Water said, “Public consultation on the draft plan is now underway. Development of the draft plan will allow Irish Water for the first time to review water supply needs collectively across the entire Eastern and Midlands Region covering a broad spectrum of risk including quality, quantity, reliability and sustainability. It will allow us to consider local options to resolve these needs and larger regional options that can address multiple supplies. 

“The draft Regional Plan will also offer key benefits in terms of transformation of our supplies, including the ability to cater for growth and economic development in a sustainable way, improved interconnectivity between our supplies to ensure balanced regional development, and new sustainable water sources that are adaptable to climate change such as the new Shannon source which is coming from the largest catchment in Ireland.

“If people are interested in our plans for the Eastern and Midlands Region, they are welcome to join one of our public webinars in February and hear more from our team,” explained Angela. 

Irish Water is now seeking feedback on the public consultation for the draft RWRP: EM and associated SEA Environmental Report and Natura Impact Statement. The documents are available to view on our website at  www.water.ie/rwrp/easternmidlands

A 13-week statutory public consultation will continue to run until 14 March 2022.

Submissions can be made by post or email by 14 March 2022. 

Regional Water Resources Plan Eastern and Midlands Region- The above map outlines the area which is covered by the RWRP EM. A full list of townlands, towns, settlements and counties included in the RWRP EM can be found  www.water.ie/rwrp/easternmidlands