A 7 year project to bring water from the River Shannon to Dublin has commenced. The €500 million Irish Water project is the first major infrastructure project undertaken by the new utility company.

Tenders are now being sought for a “survey specialist” to complete a water quality survey of Lough Derg and the Parteen Basin, the planned source for the Dublin supply.

“Irish Water will submit a planning application for this project at the end of 2015,” a spokeswoman said. The project was initially earmarked for completion within a 10 year period but as the need is now classified as ‘Urgent’ a target of 7 years has been put in place. The tender notice states there is “an urgent need” to award the contract, and therefore the applicants who are deemed by Irish Water qualified to tender for the job will have just 10 days to submit bids.