A second underwater tunnel beneath the River Shannon in Athlone, linking the town's sewer system from east to west, has been completed.
The €114 million main drainage project, which is designed to future-proof Athlone's wastewater infrastructure, has been under way since 2023 and is scheduled to be completed later this year.
In recent weeks, a tunnel boring machine was lowered into an eight-metre-deep launch shaft on the river's east bank at the Strand Car Park.
It carved its way beneath the riverbed and re-emerged 22 days later at the receiving shaft outside Sean's Bar on the west side.
"The successful completion of the second, and final, River Shannon crossing is a critical milestone in the delivery of this ambitious project that will shape the future of Athlone," said Eunan Canavan, Portfolio Manager at Uisce Éireann.
"The finish line is now clearly in sight with works over 80% complete," he added.
(Watch: Uisce Éireann's Eunan Canavan explains how the tunnel works)
The Athlone water drainage project is the largest water infrastructure project in the country at the moment and will bring great benefits to the town and community.
"Essentially, the new system will improve the water quality in the River Shannon and eliminating out of sewer flooding," said Mr Canavan.
"At the moment, the existing network just doesn't have the capacity to deal with flows that are there so this new network, when it's completed, will have the capacity to deal with that, he added.
Uisce Éireann said the project will also provide more capacity to allow for further growth and development in Athlone.
"Linking Athlone's sewer system under the Shannon is a huge step forward for the town," said Councillor Liam McDaniel, Cathaoirleach of Westmeath County Council.
"It's not something people see every day, but it's a major engineering feat that will really benefit the community - helping protect the environment and making sure our infrastructure is ready for future growth."
The project has seen over 3km of sewer pipes going down across the town.
"It's a really big civil engineering project and from the outset, we designed the scheme to minimise the impact on the town," said Eunan Canavan, Portfolio Manager at Uisce Éireann.
"When you're coming into a town like Athlone, it's an old medieval town, old buildings, narrow streets, it's very busy and we wanted to try and minimise the impact," he said.
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"So we designed the scheme as a tunnel scheme where we constructed local shafts, dotted arund the town and we tunnelled underneath the ground between those shafts so there's no impact in the areas between those shafts.
"We've had great engagement with the local representatives and with the business, communities and the residents in Athlone, and we're looking forward to seeing the project come into a completion at the end of the year."
Shaft construction is fully complete, and the final phase of tunnelling from the Strand Carpark is well under way.
Cross connection works, to facilitate the connection of the existing and new sewer networks, will continue at various locations around the town in the coming months.
Testing and commissioning of the Coosan West Pump Station is also ongoing, and commissioning of the new terminal pumping station in Golden Island will be carried out in the Summer.
The €114m Athlone Main Drainage Scheme is one of the most significant projects that Uisce Éireann has carried out to date.
