Killyfole Waterworks

History

In the early 1960s Lisnaskea Rural District Council decided to turn the Killyfole Lough into a reservoir for the supply of piped water to the Rosslea, Newtownbutler, Lisnaskea, Maguiresbridge and Brookeborough districts. Opened in 1968, it was planned that the network of mains would supply approximately 15,000 people and provide agricultural water for a total of 116,000 acres.

A filter house was built at the eastern end of the Lough where the water was treated and then pumped to a service reservoir at Corranny two miles away. The Killyfole Mill was demolished when the sluice was built. While the provision of piped water was a necessity for households and for the small milk producers of the area who were coming under pressure to have a supply of running water to cool milk, it made a drastic difference to the Lough.