Regional Water Resources Plan - South West
Regional Water Resources Plan - South West
The development of the Regional Water Resources Plan South West (RWRP-SW) will allow Uisce Éireann for the first time to review water supply needs collectively for the entire South West region and across the spectrum of risk including quality, quantity, reliability, and sustainability. It allows us to consider local options to resolve these needs and larger Regional Options that can address needs across multiple supplies.
As part of the RWRP-SW Uisce Éireann reviewed the water supply needs across 174 water resource zones and identified options to address any additional requirements. The plan allows us to consider local options that can resolve needs within individual supplies and regional options that can address needs across multiple supplies.
Following on from the public consultation on Phase 2 draft RWRP-SW and associated environmental reports, the submissions and observations received from public consultation have been taken into consideration, and the RWRP-SW has been updated.
Our information brochure has more detail on the RWRP-SW and the public consultation that took place.
The RWRP-SW has now been adopted, accompanied by a Strategic Environmental Assessment Statement and an Appropriate Assessment Determination. A Consultation Report summarising feedback received during the public consultation has also been published.
The outcome of the RWRP-SW includes:
- Reducing the number of Water Resource Zones in the South West Region from 174 to 92.
- Development of larger interconnected Water Resource Zones for the urban areas in the region.
- Upgrading 137 existing water treatment plants to reduce water quality risks across all WRZs.
- Interconnecting supplies via 644 kilometres of trunk mains.
- Development of 17 new water treatment plants.
- Eventual decommissioning 90 water treatment plants.
Reducing leakage to 23% of regional demand through pressure management, active leakage control, and targeted asset replacement.
The outcomes and benefits of this Regional Preferred Approach include:
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Improved performance across all the water supplies in terms of quality and quantity.
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Strategic transformation from the existing fragmented supply to a more resilient and sustainable interconnected supply.
Regional Water Resources Plan: South West Publications
Regional Water Resources Plan - South West
- Section 1 Planning Context
- Section 2 South West Region
- Section 3 Regional Needs
- Section 4 Current Status of Infrastructure
- Section 5 Solutions - Our Approach
- Section 6 Option Development
- Section 7 Preferred Approach - Study Area
- Section 8 Regional Preferred Approach
- Section 9 Ongoing Monitoring, Mitigation and Evolution
- Section 10 Conclusions
- Appendix 1 Study Area H Technical Report
- Appendix 2 Study Area J Technical Report
- Appendix 3 Study Area I Technical Report
- Regional Water Resources Plan: South West Table of Contents
- Regional Water Resources Plan: South West Glossary
- WTP Overview
Note: Note: Two information files from the RWRP-SW have also been extracted from the documents for use by the EPA during the consultation process.
- "WTP Overview" which shows the consolidated Water Treatment Plant data for the region. A link to this has been provided on the website.
- "Proposed new and increased abstractions data for the South West Region", which shows the consolidated Abstraction data for the region. In accordance with Article 8 2(a)(iii) Directive (EU) 2020/2184, the recast Drinking Water Directive which states that "geo-references for all abstraction points in the catchment areas; given that those data are potentially sensitive, in particular in the context of public health and public security, the Member States shall ensure that such data are protected and communicated only to the relevant authorities and water supplies", this information will not be published.
South West Region
The Region covers approximately 13,000 square kilometres (representing about 20% of the Republic of Ireland) and extends from the southern tip of the country from the Iveragh Peninsula in the south west of County Kerry, north to the Shannon Estuary, and south east passing through county Cork into county Waterford to the Celtic Sea at Youghal. The region is supported by a strong network of key towns that provide secure employment and economic growth potential. Uisce Éireann supplies around 316 million litres of water per day to a population of 594,400 people and 45,000 businesses in the South West region. This represents more than 18% of Uisce Éireann's total supply nationally.
Find your townland
A list of the cities, towns, villages, and townlands covered by this Regional plan is available in the links below. The information provided in the townlands, towns and settlement lists that are included in the Regional Water Resources Plan South West are sourced from Ordnance Survey Ireland.
Study Area Technical Reports
To deliver the draft RWRP-SW, we subdivided the region into smaller units to enable us to manage the process of identifying potential water supply solutions (options) and the selection of our Preferred Approaches to resolve our water supply and water quality deficits. These smaller units are referred to as Study Areas. A detailed Technical Report is provided for each Study Area describing the solution types at Study Area level and providing a summary of the detailed Option and Approach Development process and resulting outcomes for each Study Area. The Study Area technical reports are provided as appendices to the draft RWRP-SW document. The South West Region comprises three Study Areas as shown in the following image.
