Irish Water, Ireland's national water utility, responsible for providing and developing water and wastewater services throughout Ireland, has announced details of a €30 million investment in in the Kerry Central Regional Supply Scheme including the construction of a new Water Treatment Plant at Lough Guitane together with associated upgrade and refurbishment works on existing infrastructure.

The Kerry Central Regional Water Supply Scheme provides water to 9 water supply zones including Killarney, all of which are currently on the Environmental Protection Agency's Remedial Action List (RAL) arising from the absence of a robust treatment system.

The scheme serves in excess of 62,000 people on a permanent basis. The area served by the scheme is also one of the premier tourist regions in the Country. Tourist visitors to the Central Regional Water Supply Region are estimated to be in excess of 1.2 million annually.

The new Water Treatment Plant will provide 51 million litres of treated water per day to the communities of central Kerry including Tralee, Killarney, Castleisland, Castlemaine and an extensive rural area across the county. The delivery of this project will ensure that more than 62,000 people will be removed from the RAL and will provide a safe and secure water supply in relation to industry, agriculture and tourism.

Speaking about today's announcement, Sean Laffey, Head of Asset Programmes with Irish Water said, "This Irish Water project which Kerry County Council have been progressing for a number of years will safeguard the water supply for the communities of Central Kerry for the long term. Irish Water will ensure that 62,000 people will be removed from the EPA's Remedial Action List and have a safe secure drinking water supply they can rely on." He added, "This is one of the many investments Irish Water is making to improve the water and wastewater infrastructure in Ireland that is in dire need of critical investment."

Irish Water invested €340 million in improving water and wastewater services in 2014 and over €363 million during 2015. Irish Water plans to spend €532 million on water services in 2016. Capital investment in the region of €700 million per year is required for a sustained period of several decades to address the acknowledged deficiencies in the country's water infrastructure. Works have been prioritised to address the most critical issues in line with commitments outlined in Irish Water's recently published Business Plan. Delivery of the business plan will involve a €5.5bn investment in capital spending on drinking water and wastewater quality and capacity and new infrastructure up to 2021.