Drinking Water Supply
Introduction
The Council manages two water treatment plants. The primary source for drinking water in the County is the Leixlip Treatment plant on the River Liffey. This plant provides a guaranteed output of 148 megalitres per day, although it can produce up to 168 megalitres for short periods. This equates to the daily production of enough potable water to fill 60 Olympic sized swimming pools! Of the water produced at Leixlip only a half is used within the county, the rest being exported to Dublin City, Kildare and Meath.
The other treatment plant is at Bog of the Ring, which produces up to 3 megalitres a day. This plant extracts groundwater from wells and supplements the water supply of the northern part of the County. Certain parts of the County are supplied by Dublin City, whose water originates from Ballymore Eustace and Roundwood. The drinking water produced by Fingal is of the highest standard and meets the required EU Drinking Water quality parameters.
The treated water is distributed throughout Fingal using a combination of pumped mains, gravity mains and reservoirs. At present, Fingal has approximately 1680 km of water mains. The majority of the water is pumped from Leixlip up twin rising mains to the main storage reservoir at Ballycoolen. The water then gravitates through pipes from this reservoir to Blanchardstown and the East Coast Areas. There are some localised high areas within Fingal that require pumping to ensure an adequate water supply. These include Kilshane to Garristown, Hollywood, Palmerstown and Howth. There are a number of reservoirs throughout the County which provide storage and satisfy the peaks and troughs of daily demand.
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