This article is from page 12 of the 2006-12-05 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
ENVIRONMENT Minister, Dick Roche, has given the go-ahead for sewerage and water schemes for Kilkee and Broadford.
The minister announced that he had given approval to Clare County Council to invite tenders for a major contract to bring a new water supply to Kilkee from the West Clare Regional Water Scheme.
The works, estimated to cost some €9m, will give Kilkee a new connection to the regional scheme. The town is currently served by a small local source, supplemented by a limited supply from the reservoir serving the regional scheme.
The Minister said that the contract would be for 23km of new watermains to replace the present inadequately-sized connection pipes.
“In particular, it will eliminate the likelihood of water shortages, especially in the busy tourist season. It will also ensure that there is plentiful spare capacity to cater for residential, commercial and tourism development in the town,” he added.
This scheme is one of over 20 water and sewerage schemes in Clare, valued at more than €196m, that have been approved for exchequer funding in the minister’s Water Services Investment Programme for the period 2005-2007.
The Minister also announced yesterday that he had approved exchequer funding of more than €1.3m under his department’s Water Services Investment Programme 2005-2007 for a new sewerage scheme in Broadford.
The Minister said that he had cleared Clare County Council’s revised preliminary report for the scheme and that, “the way is now clear for the council to prepare contract documents and then to invite tenders”.
The minister highlighted the environmental benefits for Broadford, which at present depends mainly on septic tanks.
“The scheme will provide the sewerage infrastructure the village has been waiting for and that is needed to facilitate new development.”
He has confirmed that the €1.5m project includes the construction of a new sewage collection system and wastewater treatment plant that will meet the needs of the village well in to the future.
The Minister said that he would be asking Clare County Council to advance it to tender as quickly as possible.