The commissioning and handover of 2 no. wastewater treatment plant upgrades in County Laois was completed by Conway Engineering this month. Irish Water, working in partnership with Laois County Council, employed Conway Engineering to undertake essential upgrade works to both the Mountmellick (6000PE) and Castletown (800PE) wastewater treatment plants. These plants, located approx. 20km apart, were tendered separately by Irish Water, with Conway Engineering appointed to design and construct both contracts. Considerably efficiencies were then achieved for all stakeholders by agreeing to run the two projects concurrently.

The improvement works include upgrades to all elements of the treatment process including inlet works, screening, aeration and clarifier upgrades. The upgrade works were planned and sequenced to minimise disruption to the live plants, with tanks and fittings pre-fabricated off-site at our Workshop, significantly reducing site works and downtime of the plants. Conway Engineering’s value engineering proposal to upgrade the aeration systems to Fine Bubble Diffused Air (FBDA) systems will significantly reduce operational costs at the plant for Irish Water into the future.