Wicklow County Council Water Supply Scheme Threatens River
January 17th, 2009 -- Posted in Water Scheme | No Comments »This is a website dedicated to the Protection of the River Vartry which passes through Wicklow, the Garden of Ireland. We are landowners and concerned people who want to see that the River will always be a part of the landscape.
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••••••••••URGENT YOUR ACTION IS NEEDED NOW •••••••••
The Wicklow County Council has started a Wicklow Water Supply Scheme – Part 8 Planning and Compulsory Purchase Order which can be seen on www.wicklow.ie under Local Authority News. DO NOT BE MISLED BY THIS. IT IS THE MOST SERIOUS THREAT TO THE RIVER VARTRY SINCE 1868 WHEN THE ROUNDWOOD RESERVOIR WAS BUILT.
The Wicklow County Council would like this to go by without notice and on the surface looks like an upgrade to the Cronroe Treatment Works. It is in-fact a complete new water scheme that is to drill 7 new wells in the area and will without a doubt lower the levels in the Vartry by this large groundwater abstraction. Details are given in the section “WATER SCHEME” but what is necessary is that there is a groundswell of public opinion that requires the Wicklow County Council to produce an Environment Impact Assessment. They have provided no Environmental Information and an EIA is mandatory. One condition is that if there is sufficient public concern, so be concerned and make a submission asking for an EIA. Submissions are free and can be made according to the information below.
Submissions and observations with respect to the proposed development dealing with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area in which the development would be situated may be made in writing to the Senior Excutive Officer, Water and Environmental Services on or before 4:00pm on Friday 13th February 2008. Observations should be clearly marked “”Wicklow Water Supply Scheme””. There is no fee for making a submission to the above application.
Drop the objection to the Wicklow County Council offices planning desk or send the objection to
Philip Duffy, Senior Executive Officer, Water and Environmental Services,
Wicklow County Council, County Buildings, Wicklow Town.
Part of this plan is to Compulsory Purchase (CPO) land for the laying of pipe and the location of some of the wells. This land will be unusable for farming because of a source protection area which the Wicklow County Council have not yet defined. These CPOs are heard by An Bord Pleanala rather than the council and if you wish to object to these, it is important to contact admin[at]rivervartry.com for details. These objections need to be in by the 2nd of February. There is a procedure to follow when objecting to these and a potential cost.