AN BORD Pleanála has given the green light for a new covered reservoir at Stillorgan.
The Stillorgan Reservoir site has supplied drinking water to the community for 150 years.
However, Irish Water says a new covered reservoir is essential to safeguard the quality of the drinking water for its 200,000 customers.
The development includes the draining of one of the reservoirs and the construction of a new, covered reservoir.
Once the new reservoir is operational, the other two open reservoirs will be decommissioned, and landscaping of the site will take place.
The new reservoir will have the capacity to support future growth to 2031.
The remainder of the site will be retained for future water services infrastructure to secure the long-term supply of drinking water for the community.
Irish Water has already invested €3.4 million to improve the disinfection of drinking water stored in the Stillorgan Reservoir enabling the removal of the Stillorgan Reservoir from the EPA’s Remedial Action List.
Irish Water lodged a planning application with Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council following a six-week non-statutory public consultation.
Members of the public and interested stakeholders came along to the various events to meet the project team who were on hand to answer any questions on the project.
The points raised in the consultation were taken into account in the preparation of the planning application.
This included landscaping of the site which incorporates a green roof on the reservoir and full landscaping of all decommissioned areas.
Planning permission was granted by Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council on June 1, 2017 subject to the temporary provision of publicly accessible open space on an area of landscaped lands at the site.
Irish Water appealed the planning condition as they felt the locations of the decommissioned reservoirs needed to be maintained for future water services infrastructure to secure drinking water for the community.
Irish Water said it was pleased that An Bord Pleanála has now approved the planning application to ensure that the utility will retain the entire site for this future development.
John Prendeville, Project Manager with Irish Water said: “We are committed to safeguarding the water supply for the community and providing a long-term solution for the safe and sustainable management of the water supply for the next 15 years.
“We will engage fully with all stakeholders as we continue to work to progress this priority project.
“We are committed to investing approximately €80 million to ensure the upgrade to the reservoir provides the long-term solution that is required.”