GRAHAM completes £13m water treatment investment at Drumaroad Water Treatment Works

Civil engineering specialist GRAHAM has completed a project to improve the security of water supplies for Co Down and Belfast at Drumaroad Water Treatment Works, Castlewellan, in Northern Ireland.

The scheme, delivered for Northern Ireland Water, is one of the largest improvement projects carried out in recent years and will bring a range of benefits for customers.

Following the works a new water storage tank will now serve the existing Drumaroad and Chapel Hill water pumping stations to supply treated water for distribution areas. GRAHAM’s civil engineering team also constructed an additional pumping station to transfer flows outside normal operational conditions which will provide extra resilience to the network. 

The upgrade involved the construction of a new water storage tank, with a capacity of 36 million litres, the equivalent of 14 Olympic sized swimming pools. 

Drumaroad Water Treatment Plant treats water from Silent Valley reservoir which delivers around 140 million litres of water every day to over 200,000 homes in County Down and Belfast.

Completion of the scheme means 540,000 people- a quarter of the Northern Ireland population, will benefit directly from increased resilience and security of water supply. 

PJ McAffrey, Contracts Director at GRAHAM, said: 

“We’re thrilled to have helped deliver this vital improvement scheme for our long-standing client NI Water and to have supported the security of essential water supplies to the residents of County Down and Belfast.

“The water and wastewater sectors are key service areas for us and we have enjoyed a great working relationship with NI Water for decades. This improvement project was another example of our growing civil engineering portfolio in this sector and another successful collaboration.”

Discussing the project, NI Water Project Manager Mark Richardson, said:

“The upgrade will provide additional water supply to customers, particularly during emergency situations, when we may need to shut down the main plant or when we complete other planned maintenance to our water supply network.

“I would like to thank the NI Water project team, including contractor GRAHAM and RPS, who provided project management and technical support. The team successfully completed the new tank, while ensuring our customer’s water supply wasn’t interrupted during construction. This major project will provide improved local water supply for many years to come.”

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