BYCATHERINE COOK

Work has finally started on the digging of four bore holes at Ballymacool to augment the water supply in Letterkenny ten eyaers after it was first mooted.

The ¤2.9 million project will augment the Letterkenny water supply by 400,000 gallons daily and is due to be completed by December.

Funding for the project is coming from the Department of the Environment in conjunction with the County Council's own resources.

Mr John McElwaine, Senior Executive Engineer with Donegal County Council explained: "The statutory process to construct these bore holes has taken some time. Once works are completed, however, the additional 1800 cubic metres each day will be pumped to a reservoir at Ard O'Donnell and then processed to drinking-water standard at the water treatment works to be constructed at Crieve Glebe."

"In November of last year the 'design and build' part of this project was begun. Workers have only just mobilised on site and the entire project is due for completion in December 2007," explained Mr McElwaine.

BACK THEN

In June of 1997 an article in the Donegal News following a County Council meeting stated: "County Manager Mr. Michael McLoone told the members that the Council were exploring the possibility of submitting a revised cohesive funding application to extract water from Lough Mourne to augment the present supply which comes from Lough Salt and Lough Keel. In the interim, Letterkenny's water supply will be boosted by a new £3 million project which could be in operation by 1999."

To date, however, the Lough Mourne water supply has still not come on-line although work in relation to it is ongoing and a funding application is currently being processed. Once Lough Mourne is linked into the water supply an additional three million gallons per day will boost the Letterkenny and east Donegal water supply.