Limerick City and County Council celebrated World Water Day on March 22nd with the official launch of three public drinking water fountains at Lough Gur Nature Park, the Milk Market Limerick City and the Newcastle West Demesne.
The fountains are funded by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Local Authority Prevention Network Grant.
Mayor of Limerick City and County, Cllr Francis Foley welcomed the additions to Limerick’s public drinking water network.
“I am delighted that Limerick City and County Council has increased its provision of public drinking water infrastructure in Limerick City and County. These drinking water fountains support the reduction of single use plastic bottles by making drinking water available to the public.”
Chair of the local Tidy Towns Group, Vicky Nash confirmed that the drinking water fountain and the savings of single use plastic bottles will be included in the Newcastle West Tidy Towns application for 2023 under the ‘Sustainability Doing More with Less’ category.
The installation for the contactless public drinking water fountains is in line with the national and regional policy on waste prevention and the United Nations Sustainability Goals, particularly Goal 12: Responsible Production and Consumption.
These new Contactless Public Drinking Water Fountains add to the existing network of fountains previously funded under the Healthy Ireland programme and the European Green Leaf Fund. These fountains are located at Merchant’s Quay Limerick, Mungret Park, People’s Park, Abbeyfeale Square, Kilmallock Civic offices.
Five additional outdoor drinking water fountains funded under the CLAR programme are due to come on stream in 2023. This will bring the total number of public drinking water fountains in Limerick to thirteen.