€3.5m Barrow water softener only 'intermittently' used

Srowland WTP. Pic: Engineers Ireland video grab.

A water conditioning system at the Barrow treatment plant at Srowland in Athy which cost €3.5m has not operated since mid-March, and has only been in operation 'intermittently' in the last 18 months, writes Brian Byrne.

The reason may be the €320,000 annual cost of running it, but the potential impact may be seen in a year or so when water users in mid-Kildare find themselves having to replace kettles and washing machines prematurely because of increased hardness of their water supply.

Even more disturbing, both Wyeth in Newbridge and Naas Hospital, each of whom are large process consumers of water, have not been told that their overall water hardness is going to change.

The belated news of the conditioning unit being turned off was confirmed yesterday at a meeting in Kildare County Council, involving Cllrs Evie Sammon from Naas MD and Tracey O'Dwyer from Kildare Newbridge MD, with Director of Services Joe Boland and officials. It was also revealed that nobody from Irish Water had bothered to inform Kildare County Council.

The proprietary system developed by Veolia, who built and manage the plant for Irish Water, was designed to deal with a 'challenging' hardness of the water in the Barrow Abstraction Scheme which was initiated in 2005.

In addition to having an inferior taste to soft water as is produced in the Ballymore treatment plant, hard water can be visually unattractive and also impacts on domestic and industrial equipment through deposits of limescale.

The Srowland plant was developed as part of a scheme to provide a more stable water supply to the mid-Kildare area, at a cost of around €45m. Under a design, build and operate contract, Veolia delivered the project in two years in mid-2013. The company has a 20-year operating contract, originally on behalf of Kildare County Council, but now for Irish Water.

Currently the Barrow Abstraction Scheme produces 13 million litres a day of drinking-quality water into the county's water system. This is envisaged to rise to 38 million litres a day by 2026, largely because of Irish Water plans to divert more water from Ballymore to the Dublin area.

These plans, reported on by the Diary some weeks ago and only this week confirmed, have raised consumer concerns in the Ballymore, Brannockstown, Kilcullen and Naas areas. An online petition has been set up by a group stying itself the Naas Action Group to try and stop the change in their supply from Ballymore to the Barrow water. In three weeks they have gained some 1,500 supporters.

When the plant came on stream in 2013, €3.5m funding was approved for the water conditioning unit to be added at Srowland in order to deal with what Kildare County Council described as a 'particular challenge'. Pending its installation, the Council 'blended' the Barrow supply with softer water from Ballymore, at the Old Kilcullen underground reservoir. At the time, the Council said it would reduce the hardness 'to more moderate levels' and would deal with issues of public perception of the new source.

At this stage the area from Old Kilcullen to the south, and west to Newbridge, gets water that is 90pc from the Barrow.

Veolia describe the Srowland installation as a 'key reference site' for their patented Actiflo® Softening process of which the Athy plant boasts the largest installation of its kind within Veolia’s worldwide operations. The company says it solves the problem of long term scaling in boilers, pipes and hot water circuits ... scaling in drinking water pipes and excess consumption of soaps and washing preparations.

Yet apparently it is not being used most of the time. It was last switched off on 12 March. And nobody bothered to inform the Council.

Cllrs Tracey O'Dwyer and Evie Sammon.

Cllr O'Dwyer told the Diary the Council was finding it very difficult to get Irish Water to engage with them on a number of issues.

With concerns already mounting about the taste and hard water effects for consumers in mid-Kildare of the increased use of Barrow water, the non-use of the water-softening system doesn't make much sense.

Unless it's because of the €320,000 a year cost of running the system, and no water charges to cover that and other Irish Water costs.

"That kind of expense is paltry compared to the environmental impact on consumers and business who will have to replace domestic and industrial equipment long before its normal life," Cllr O'Dwyer says.

The Diary asked Irish Water a number of relevant questions today, none of which were answered directly. Their subsequent statement follows.

"The water supply in the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) comes from a number of different treatment plants including the Srowland water treatment plant. The Srowland water treatment plant produces drinking water that is fully compliant with statutory drinking water regulations. The conditioning unit which has operated intermittently over the past 18 months is not in operation currently as it is not an essential part of the water treatment process. Irish Water does not chemically treat water to remove mineral salts at any of our water treatment plants as they are naturally occurring and fully consistent with safe drinking water. Irish Water’s priority is the provision of safe, clean drinking water and safeguarding that water supply is a vital focus. 

"Irish Water continues to work with Kildare County Council, our contractors and others to safeguard the health and well-being of both staff and the public and to ensure the continuity of critical drinking water services."

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