Water Services

Kilkenny Water Services Authority is responsible for 20 public drinking water supplies and 35 public waste water treatment schemes.

• In 2011 the Authority produced over 10.1 m m^3 of quality drinking water directly to a population of over 61,000 across the county.
• The Authority acts as a supervising Authority for private water supplies that fall under the Drinking Water Regulations.
• SCADA systems installed on Drinking Water Supplies.
• Provided specialised accredited training and upskilling of caretakers managing treatment facilities.
• Complete review of all monitoring stations used for Group Water Schemes to ensure water quality monitoring is representative.
• Review of all site specific safety statements for drinking and waste water facilities.
• Progression of the "Releasing Water Quality Information Project" which won the Chambers Ireland Award 2011. As part of this initiative a new water quality alert notification system was launched increasing the responsiveness of the Authority when incidents arise.

 

In 2011 the Authority produced over 10.1 m m^3 of quality drinking water directly to a population of over 61,000 across the county.

 

 

Operations and Maintenance Programme

• Operations and maintenance programme continued to grow during 2011 with the commissioning of a number of new water and waste water facilities in order to achieve improved compliance with all statutory requirements.
• All Caretakers have been trained in either Water or Waste water caretaking skills up to FETAC Level 5.
• Caretakers have been assigned to only either water or waste water plants, thereby allowing for improved specialisation and avoidance of any risk of cross contamination.
• Increase in schedule of planned maintenance for all water and waste water plants.
• A programme to install alarms and SCADA systems at all plants is continuing.
• Kilkenny County Council is part of a SE Regional Committee, established to exchange ideas and to establish best practice for Water & Waste Water Operations & Maintenance.
• Drinking Water Incident Response Plan implemented with the establishment of a dedicated emergency depot.
• Site Specific Safety Statements were completed for all water and waste water treatment plants.
• Kilkenny County Council was awarded a Chambers Ireland award for its system of on line water quality information publication.

 

new water quality alert notification system was launched

 

 

Capital Programme

Major Schemes

Kilkenny Regional Water Supply Scheme

The Preliminary Design Report has been submitted for approval to the DOEHLG.
Work is scheduled to commence on the repair of Reservoir No. 2 (1 million gallon) at Radestown. The Contractor has been selected and work is scheduled to commence in March, 2012, at a cost of €250,000.
 

Gowran/Goresbridge/Paulstown WSS

Two contracts, namely Ultra Violet (UV) works and Access road construction, were completed in 2011 at a cost of €500,000.
 

Ballyragget, Clogh/Castlecomer and Urlingford/Johnstown WSS Bundle

Preliminary Design Reports for these schemes are being reviewed by the Department of Environment.
 

Callan, Graignamanagh and Thomastown/Inistioge WSS Bundle

This overall bundle of schemes is on the Water Services Investment Programme (WSIP) 2010 - 2012, with the main advanced contract being the Inistioge Advance Works Contract.
 

Waterford City Waste Water Treatment Plant.

The new Waterford City waste water treatment plant, located at Belview Port in Co Kilkenny, was officially opened by Minister Phil Hogan, T.D. The plant will cater for the future waste water needs of the Waterford City environs, located in Co Kilkenny, as well as including a substantial capacity for IDA Ireland's strategic industrial lands at Belview. In all, Kilkenny County Council has contributed approximately €5m to the project.
 

Kilkenny City Waste Water Treatment Plant

An Bord Pleanala has approved the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Kilkenny (Purcellsinch) Waste Water Treatment Plant. The Council is at present developing design proposals for interim works.
 

Appropriate Assessment Applications

Appropriate Assessment of Natural Impact Statements and Outline design reports for the following waste water treatment plants are being considered by An Bord Pleanala;

• Ballyhale waste water treatment plant outfall
• Paulstown waste water treatment plant outfall
• Urlingford waste water treatment plant interim upgrade
• Castlecomer waste water treatment plant interim upgrade
• Stonyford waste water treatment plant interim upgrade

It is expected that these applications will be finalised around mid 2012.
 

Freshford, Johnstown & Goresbridge Sewerage Scheme Bundle.

The Council are advancing the design proposal for these village schemes as a matter of urgency.
 

Kilmacow Sewerage Scheme

The new DBO waste water treatment plant is now commissioned and fully operational.
 

 

Water Conservation

Water conservation is primarily concerned with reducing the levels of unaccounted for water in water supply schemes. Unaccounted for water includes water losses as a result of leakage from mains and fittings, unauthorized connections, excessive consumption, and unmetered non-domestic connections.

• Central Government funding for Stage 2 works (leak detection & repair) is nearing completion. Kilkenny County Council has established its own leak detection crew to continue this essential work.
• Since the commencement of Stage 2 works in 2009, almost 2,500 leaks have been detected on both public and private mains.
• An overall repair rate of 91% has been achieved and the volume of water required to be produced in now less than 80% of what was required in 2009.
• Department approval to commence Stage 3 works (mains replacement and remediation) has been received and it is anticipated that works can commence on site on the first such contract in the fourth quarter of 2012.

 

 

Rural Water Programme

There are 232 Group Schemes in the County - 124 Groups served from a private source & 108 Groups connected to the public supply. 68 of the public group schemes are not taken in charge. There were 108 operational Small Private Supplies at the beginning of 2011 including Schools, Housing Estates & Food Premises.

• The sum of €355,000 was paid out in improvement grants to group schemes in 2011 and €1,550 being spent on the Takeover of Group Schemes.
• 71 Subsidies towards the operational running costs of Group Water Schemes totalling €231,000 were administered and paid to Group Schemes in 2011.
• 99 approvals issued for grant applications for provision of wells to private houses and the sum of €164,000 was paid out in well grants in 2011.
• The sum of €600,000 was spent on the provision & improvement works to public water and sewage schemes under the small schemes programme.
• A survey of 192 sampling stations on the 48 regulated Group Water Schemes was completed in 2011. This information was used to ensure an up to date representative 2011 Annual Water Quality Monitoring Programme.

 

 

Water Charging Programme

Kilkenny County Council established the Water Charges Business Unit in August 2010. This unit brought together staff from Sanitary Services and Debt Collection to provide a more focused approach on water charges.

The Water Charges Business Unit is responsible for invoicing and collection of water charges. Invoicing is generally on a quarterly basis but in 2011 the Council introduced monthly billing for high consumers.

This assists both the customer and the Council from a cash flow perspective.

For the second consecutive year there was no increase in water and waste water charges. Rates for non-domestic users were 0.96 euro / m^3 for drinking water and 1.93 euro /m^3 for waste water (a combined rate of 2.89 euro).

Kilkenny County Council continues to promote a number of initiatives such as data loggers, meter.ie, to encourage monitoring of water usage.

A leaflet offering a guide to 2011 Water charges and offering advice to customers on water conservation was also distributed to all customers.

 

 

Water Quality Programme

The water quality monitoring programme for 2011 built upon successive improvements since 2007 and increased further the quantity and range of testing of water monitoring across source, drinking and waste waters.

The programme includes testing programmes for all categories of public and private drinking water and waste water supplies. In 2011 there were over 8,500 tests conducted on public supplies and over 5,300 tests carried out on private supplies.

The Authority has invested in a well resourced water quality monitoring team comprising a senior chemist and 4 Environmental Technicians.

The Authority's laboratory facilities were enhanced with new equipment in 2011 increasing the internal capacity to conduct monitoring.

Additionally the Authority has a strong working relationship with a number of external laboratories involved in the monitoring programme.

The Water Quality Liaison Group Meetings with the HSE have continued to be very successful and practical in managing the quality of drinking water supplies and protecting public health of the consumers. The Group has worked very well to manage water quality incidents arising.

A new initiative commenced in 2011 called "Releasing Water Quality Information Project" sought to build upon the successful changes in the water quality monitoring service and find new effective ways to publish water quality information internally and externally and importantly encourage the use of water quality information in decision making. The Project won the 2011 Chambers Ireland Excellence in Local Government Awards under the Strategic Water Initiative category. Kilkenny Water Service Authority hopes to build on this success in a phase 2 development for 2012.

A new water quality alert notification system has been introduced to strengthen the Drinking Water Incident Response Plan infrastructure and facilitate timely responses to incidents as they arise.

 

In 2011 total of 13,800 quality tests were conducted on public and private water supplies.