Luke Livingstone Macassey (1843 – 9 May 1908) was an Irish

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

and

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

, notable for his contributions to public health by improving the water supply in the north of Ireland (today

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

). In 1874 he was appointed consultant hydraulic engineer by the Belfast Water Commissioners in which capacity he was instrumental in finding new sources of water for the expanding city of

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

. He proposed use of a 9,000-acre (3,600 ha) catchment area in the Mourne Mountains and a three stage project: # The first stage was to divert water from the Kilkeel and Annalong rivers through the newly constructed Mourne Conduit to a reservoir at Carryduff. These water pipes were capable of supplying 10 million imperial gallons (45,000 m³) of water per day. Work was completed in 1901. # The second stage was to build a storage reservoir, the Silent Valley Reservoir, across the Kilkeel River. Design work on this phase began in 1910, but procurement of the work was delayed by

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. A contract was eventually awarded in 1923 to S. Pearson & Son and work continued until 1933. # The third stage was planned to be another storage reservoir in

Annalong Annalong () is a seaside village in County Down, Northern Ireland at the foot of the Mourne Mountains. It is situated in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Kilkeel and the historic Barony (geographic), barony of Mourne (barony), Mou ...

to impound the Annalong River. However, after the difficulties encountered in building the Silent Valley dam this second dam was not built. He also was the first to propose a direct rail link connecting

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

with Ireland.Scotland-Ireland undersea rail link plan 'a surprise'.
Steven McKenzie, BBC News, 9 October 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2018. Macassey is the subject of an Ulster History Circle blue plaque in Belfast.

Selected publications

* ''Report of the proposed Railway Tunnel between Scotland and Ireland. With plan, etc''. Belfast, 1868. (With Scott William) * ''Hints on the Water Supply of Small Towns and Villages''. London & Belfast, 1877. * ''The Law relating to Civil Engineers, Architects and Contractors. Primarily intended for their own use''. Stevens & Sons, London, 1890. (With

James Andrew Strahan James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

)

References

1843 births 1908 deaths Irish civil engineers Irish barristers Hydraulic engineers Belfast City and District Water Commissioners {{Ireland-bio-stub