Irish Water extends public consultation of the first National Water Resources Plan

Irish Water has extended the statutory consultation period of the country’s first National Water Resources draft Framework Plan (NWRP) and associated SEA Environmental Report and Natura Impact Statement (NI). Irish Water is now inviting feedback on the Plan and associated environmental documents which was published for statutory consultation on the Tuesday 8 December, until Friday 12th March 2021.

The NWRP is Irish Water’s plan to identify how we will provide a safe, sustainable, secure and reliable water supply to our customers for now and into the future whilst safeguarding the environment. The NWRP will set out how we will balance the supply and demand for drinking water over the short, medium and long term. It is a 25-year strategy to ensure we have a safe, sustainable, secure and reliable drinking water supply for everyone. The development of the NWRP will take place in two phases. Phase one the draft Framework Plan identifies how we assess needs across all of our water supplies, and the process that we will use to find solutions to address those needs. The NWRP draft Framework Plan is published with an accompanying Strategic Environmental Assessment Environmental Report and Natura Impact Statement, which look at how our Plan considers its impact on the environment.

This an opportunity to feed into the process of how Irish Water identifies the issues and opportunities for the water supply in your area and how solutions are found, before they are applied to your Region as part of the second phase of the NWRP. The NWRP draft Framework Plan and associated environmental reports can be viewed and downloaded at http://www.water.ie/nwrp and at local authority’s planning office or County Library (depending on the local authority and subject to Covid-19 restrictions). To find your nearest local authority’s planning office or County Library which will display the documents please click here. We have also published a consultation leaflet.