New grant could see lifting of Kildare drinking water ban
Kilteel residents have had to use bottled water for the last three years
FOLLOWING a successful application to the Department of Local Government, Kildare County Council secured over €3m to improve the group water scheme (GWS) in Kilteel, which will add 149 properties to the scheme and eventually see the lifting of the drinking ban following the discovery of arsenic in it in 2022.
This was revealed in a report given to members at the October meeting of Naas Municipal District following a motion from cllr Fintan Brett seeking an update on the progress of the Kilteel GWS.
Following a meeting with the members of Kilteel GWS in November 2023, the council made the successful application in early 2024, securing a total of €3.861m for the county, of which €3.044m was allocated for the remedial work in Kilteel.
This will allow for the installation of 7.4km of new water mains within public roads to replace the Kilteel GWS, as well as a 1.5km interconnector with the Uisce Éireann pumping station at Rathmore East.
Following meetings with the Department in June and September 2025, it was decided that the project scope would be expanded to include all properties in the Kilteel area, which would be passed by the new water main network. This amounted to 215 properties in total, including the original 66 Kilteel GWS members and up to an additional 149 properties which are not connected, but served by private wells.
Initially in 2023, the members of Kilteel GWS were given two options: to remain as a standalone GWS, or be taken in charge by Uisce Éireann, and they all voted for the latter.
The expanded scheme will provide the Kilteel members with a reliable and safe public water supply, as intended by the original project, and will also provide a new public water supply for the wider Kilteel area, where many residents are relying on private wells, many of which are unregulated, said Darren Hughes, a senior executive engineer with the county council’s Environment Department.
“The project will also make provision for two private housing developments in Kilteel village with developer provided infrastructure (DPI) to connect to this new public water supply,” he said.
“By increasing availability to a larger cohort within the Kilteel area, the completed scheme will also deliver efficiencies in the overall cost of the scheme relative to the per unit cost based on a greater number of connections, and provide a more sustainable long-term solution for the area.”
Due to capacity issues, Kilteel GWS has historically been closed to new members, resulting in many households and properties within the scheme boundary having to install their own private wells.
In addition to the initial €3.044 million allocation, additional funding will be necessary to cater for the increased project scope.
To ensure the success of the scheme, it is necessary that property owners connect to the new scheme. To facilitate this, public side connection spurs will be left at the site boundary of each property passed by the scheme and property owners will be responsible for private-side service connection works to the new scheme.
Kildare County Council’s Rural Water Section will provide Kilteel property owners with information about the scheme and promote connecting to the new public water supply. Those who opt in during the project planning phase will benefit from a reduced connection cost, in so far as any public-side service connection costs imposed by Uisce Éireann will be 100% covered by the project.
However, any property owners who decide not to connect within a reasonable timeframe once the new scheme is commissioned will be required to submit their own water connection application to Uisce Éireann and will be liable for any fees or costs arising at that time.
Kildare County Council’s Rural Water Section recently arranged a meeting with Kilteel GWS to provide an update on the project following recent engagement with the Department and the National Federation of Group Water Schemes (NFGWS) in recent months.
Kildare County Council will seek to appoint a consultant engineer on behalf of Kilteel GWS to oversee all stages of the project.
As part of this, detailed desktop and site investigations will be carried out to inform the engineering design of the project, to clarify the increased project cost, to comply with any planning requirements, to identify the most appropriate method of construction and to advance the project through the planning, procurement, construction and completion stages.
It is envisaged that operational funding via the annual subsidy will continue to be provided to support the existing Kilteel GWS, including the purchasing and provision of bottled water for its members as the water supply there remains under a ‘Do Not Consume’ notice.
