Row subsides over water works

New water mains are set to be laid along Cavan Town’s Main Street in a near six-month long project. The works, which are due to commence on Monday, January 27, are scheduled to run until Friday, July 10.
The contractor Barrans Construction will carry out the project in six phases on behalf of Irish Water. It’s envisaged that the majority of works will be carried out during the day but further consultation has yet to take place with affected businesses and retailers along the route.

Irish Water, working in partnership with Cavan County Council, is replacing problematic water mains in Cavan Town to provide a more reliable water supply and reduce high levels of leakage in the town.
A spokesperson for Irish water said the works will involve the replacement of almost 1.3 kilometres along Church Street and Main Street, and the decommissioning of 212 metres of problematic water mains, with high density polyethylene plastic pipes.
An information evening was held last week in the Cavan Crystal Hotel for businesses, elected representatives and the general public in Cavan Town to answer queries about the upcoming works.  
Irish Water’s Leakage Reduction Programme, regional lead, Declan Cawley explained: “Rehabilitation works will take place along Church Street and Main Street and decommissioning works will take place along Kinnypottle. In order to minimise disruption to local businesses and the town, a phased approach will be taken with areas of works limited to short sections.”

 

 

What do the works involve?

Executive engineer for the Cavan Belturbet Municpal District, Gerry Corrigan, told a meeting of the authority earlier this month how the works will proceed.
There will be a new pipe put under the roadway on the Farnham Arms Hotel side of the street; while on the opposite side of the street, an new innovative technique will be used to put the new pipe through the bore of the existing pipe underneath the footpath. Consequently workers will not have to dig up that footpath.
The existing two pipes run underneath the footpaths on each side of the street and they are made from asbestos cement.
The first segment of the works will commence at the location where Connolly Street intersects with the side road junction up to Fairgreen Hill and it will proceed down to the Bridge Street junction.
The second phase of the project will run from the Bridge Street juntion down to the White Star junction; and the third to the Townhall junction. Phase four involves going from Townhall Street to the Thomas Ashe Street junction. The fifth phase carries on to the Cockhill junction; while the sixth stage will see the pipes run from the Cockhill junction down through Church Street to where it meets Farnham Street.
Following that, the connections to the various premises will have to be transferred across from the old pipes to the new mains and this will involve digging a series of pits. Even on the side where the new pipe is striplined through the old pipe underneath the footpath, workmen will have to go down to the level of the pipe and join up the connections to each premises.
Mr Corrigan explained that the consultation process has already taken place with affected business owners in relation to phases one and two.
They will be proceeding now to have consultation with the remaining businesses in respect of the remaining phases on the programme of works.

Ongoing consultation
Pacelli Lynch from Cavan Chamber of Commerce, who previously spoke out about inadequate consultation, told the Celt this week: “We have more information about the outworkings of the project now and we have established dedicated contacts with both Irish Water and with the main contractor.”
He said the Chamber is establishing a Whatsapp group and consultation meetings will be held on Friday mornings when an update is necessary. “That meeting will include a representative from the retailers, Irish Water and the contractor and Cavan County Council,” he said.
The first such meeting will take place on Friday, January 31. Mr Lynch was optimistic this system would work well, as happened during the sewerage project. 
“We now have a better handle on the scale of the works, the approach to the works and there is a communication facility now in place”.

Previously he had said: Mr Lynch said that one lane of traffic must be kept open for traffic during the works in the section affected. “We don’t want a situation to develop where it will be impossible for shoppers to come into Cavan Town. If they don’t come in, it will have a devastating effect on businesses."

 

Water shut offs
The works may involve some short-term water shut-offs and the project team will ensure that customers are given a minimum of 48 hours’ notice prior to any planned water outages. Traffic management may be in place and may involve local diversions. Local and emergency traffic will be maintained at all times.
The works will be broken down into six phases running from Main Street to various junctions along the route, all the way up to Church Street. The first phase from Main Street to Bridge Street will require a road closure for four weeks.
The works will also involve laying new water service connections from the new public water main to customers’ supply. Where the existing service connections on the public side are lead, these will be replaced as part of this improvement work.
Residents and businesses in the areas affected will be notified directly. Customers can phone Irish Water on 1850-278-278 if they have any questions about the project.

Details of work in the area will be updated regularly on the Water Supply updates section of the Irish Water website www.water.ie