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The Water Services Act 2013 requires the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, in conjunction with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, to provide consent for all commitments for capital expenditure above a certain threshold.

Given the scale and importance of the Eastern and Midlands Water Supply Project and recognising the CRU’s statutory role as independent economic regulator of Irish Water, including its role of reviewing Irish Water’s capital investment plans, the Minister has today (18th October) requested the CRU to undertake the review to support the Minister’s Decision in relation to the capital consent that will be required in the event that planning approval is obtained for the project. The request to the CRU is consistent with the CRU’s role under Section 40 of the Water Services (No. 2) Act 2013 to advise the Minister on the development and delivery of water services.

The Eastern and Midlands Water Supply Project has been in development since the mid -1990s, originally under Dublin City Council, and under Irish Water management since January 2014. It is the first comprehensive upgrade of Ireland’s water infrastructure in over 60 years.

The Water Supply Project - Eastern and Midlands Region (the Water Supply Project, WSP) is Irish Water’s preferred option for the delivery of a secure, sustainable supply of water for region out to 2050.


Note to Editors:

An additional 330 million litres of treated water a day is estimated to be needed in the Greater Dublin and Eastern and Midlands Region by 2050. Existing water supply sources and infrastructure do not have the capacity or resilience to meet these requirements in a sustainable way, and are already struggling to meet current needs as evidenced by a number of significant and costly water outages in the region in recent years, including the need for Irish Water to impose a Water Conservation Order prohibiting certain types of water usage in the Greater Dublin Area which came into effect on 2 July 2018.

The maximum sustainable production of treated water from existing water sources and infrastructure within the Region do not have the capacity, resilience or connectivity to meet future demand.

A sustainable and resilient supply of water is needed for the Greater Dublin - Eastern and Midlands to support aims of the National Development Plan 2018-2027 and the National Planning Framework Project Ireland 2040. Securing supply will have to be addressed in tandem with targeted conservation measures, including those to address leakage. The chosen approach to securing supply in the region will also have to take account of the risks posed by climate change in accordance with the National Adaptation Framework 2018.

In 2015, Irish Water embarked on an extensive public consultation process to identify a new source of water supply for the region. Overall, ten options were assessed on technical environmental and economic grounds. The abstraction of raw water from the Parteen Basin and the Lower River Shannon was ultimately identified as Irish Water’s preferred option.