Delivering gas and water services to Wexford

Energy savings of up to 60% will help power local economy and water mains replacement and site investigations included in project.

Issued: September 1st 2016

A €25m plan to bring gas to Wexford town and in parallel, deliver enhanced water services, is scheduled to begin with works starting from September 12th. The Wexford Town Gas and Water Project will be delivered jointly by Gas Networks Ireland and Irish Water on behalf of Ervia, an approach which allows for gas and water infrastructure works to be completed together, thereby reducing costs and minimising disruption to local businesses and residents. Phase 1 works will run from September until early 2017, with Phase 2 expected to commence mid-2017.

Delivering a natural gas connection will provide a major boost to the town’s economy, and improving the water infrastructure will improve the reliability of the drinking water supply and reduce water leakage in the town by over 600,000 litres every day - the equivalent of the amount of water needed to supply a town the size of Bunclody every day.

Phase 1 (From September 12th, 2016)

Phase 1 of the project sees approximately 14km of gas pipelines constructed within the town (see map below). In collaboration with Irish Water, 1km of water mains will be replaced on the Newtown Road during this phase and site investigation works and surveys will be carried out throughout the town in order to assist in the design of water network upgrade works that are due to commence construction in Wexford town in 2017. This phase is the next stage of the Gas to Wexford project, which to date has seen a 40km Feeder Main gas pipeline constructed from Campile, Great Island to Wexford town and connections supplied to a number of contracted large customers.

Phase 2 (From mid-2017)

Scheduled to commence mid-2017, Phase 2 sees the building out a further 13km of gas pipelines around the town, together with the replacement of 11.7km of old water mains in poor condition with high levels of leakage, the majority of which coincide with the gas route. 2017 water main replacement works will also include the decommissioning of approximately 1,000 lead backyard shared water service connections.

The delivery of gas and water infrastructure upgrades in one project is the result of a multi-utility approach taken by Ervia, which allows for the delivery of a more efficient project overall. Crews will work in small sections at a time, with each section taking just a few days to complete. This will limit the disruption for those who use the affected routes. All works will be temporarily filled or suitably covered each evening. Once work is completed on each section, the excavations will be backfilled and surfaces fully restored.