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Water and Wastewater Plant Directory
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Limerick, Country Limerick, Ireland
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Clareville Water Treatment Plant
Dock Rd
Limerick, Country Limerick
Ireland
Contact Information:
Contact: David Keane
Email:
Telephone: 353 61 415799
Fax: 353 61 418345
Plant Operation: Municipal
Processing: Water
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Web site:
http://www.limerickcity.ie/cwtp/main.htm
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Plant/Process Description:
Limerick City's water treatment plant at
Clareville is located on the banks of the Shannon
near Castleconnell. Water has been treated on the
site since the end of the 19th century, and the
facility has been extended at various times to
meet the growing demands of the city.
The first phase of the treatment complex was
completed in the 1890's and utilized the Shannon
as a source of both raw water and power. It
comprised of slow sand filters, a headrace and a
tailrace canal and a pumphouse containing water
driven turbines and reciprocating pumps, capable
of delivering 1.5 million gallons/day to a 5
million gallon open reservoir at Newcastle,
Castletroy. The site was chosen to make use of
the head available on the river to power the
pumping plant. The headrace canal took water from
upstream of the Falls of Doonass, a famous beauty
spot and salmon fishery, used the water to power
the turbines and returned it at the level of the
tailrace canal.
The pumping arrangement, while no longer in
operation, is still an excellent state of
preservation. It is worth examining the
equipment, which was made in Limerick and bears
testament to the engineering skills of the city.
The pumphouse has been restored and will be
maintained as a record of past achievements.
The second phase came at the end of the 1920's
when the pumping arrangement had to give way
because of a more spectacular development on the
other side of the river. Most of the flow in the
river was now diverted through a headrace canal
running parallel to the north bank of the river
near Killaloe to the new Ardnacrusha Hydroelectric
Scheme. The reduced flow in the river could no
longer be relied on to drive the turbines, which
were replaced by electrically driven pumps,
powered by the Ardnacrusha Scheme. The raw water
was then delivered by gravity through a pipeline,
which passed under the river, from the higher
Ardnacrusha headrace. The slow sand filters were
replaced by a horizontal flow settling tank and
rapid gravity filters. Chemical dosing was
introduced and the capacity of the plant was
increased to 2.5 million gallons/day. Over fifty
years later, this plant is still in operation.
In 1951, a further extension was completed
increasing the capacity to 3.6 MGD to cater for
the growing demands of the city. The extension
consisted of twinning the filtration plant and
adding a circular clarifier for sedimentation.
This arrangement, with modification to plant and
chemical dosing, eventually delivered 7 MGD.
However, the plant severely overloaded and the
quality of the treated water occasionally
suffered. This over loading, as well as the need
to expand to meet the growing demand, led to the
construction to the latest phase.
In the late 1970's work was started on the latest
stage. The first contract undertaken involved the
reduction of the level of the section of the site
used for this phase to that of around the old
plant. The main civil works contractor then
carried out the construction of the buildings,
tanks and pipelines. Most of the structures are
of reinforced concrete; the extent of the work is
not obvious at first sight as a great deal of the
construction is underground. The mechanical plant
was supplied and installed under separate
specialist contracts.
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Owner:
City of Limerick
Web site:
http://www.limerickcity.ie/
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Operating Company:
City of Limerick
Web site:
http://www.limerickcity.ie/
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Directions:
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Disclaimer:
Water and Wastewater.com provides the information on
this page for reference purposes only. We do not certify
the accuracy of the information provided by third-party
individuals for this listing.
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