River Vartry Protection Society

Irish Water Upgrade of the Vartry Treatment Works threatens the River Vartry

Thank you everyone for you concentrated effort to fight for River Vartry. We have seen 11 independent Observations against the Planning application so far. Tomorrow we will see if there are a few more that made it under the wire as the date for submissions was Thursday the 12th of May.
The summary of most of the Objections was the call for an Independent Environmental Impact Assessment rather than Irish Water saying “Believe us, we don’t need an EIA!”. The fact that they admit in their application that they will damage the River both in Construction and Operation was not overlooked and certainly affected the overall trust in Irish Water.

Many of the Objections pointed out the irresponsible and flawed science use to say that the pollutants would be within EU specifications. Irish Water claimed that the new discharge was 35% of the flow of the river, when there is no records that have ever been taken, showing what is the flow in the river. This was a blanket figure, not taking into account the difference in flow during drought and flood. Without a comprehensive study of flows in the river and figures of discharge vs. flow during the whole year, taking into account of global warming, you cannot take these figures seriously.

What was interesting was the tone of the objections from the Riparian Owners. They used words like “insist” and “demand” and are exercising their Riparian Rights and Responsibilities. This is an important change as Irish Water cannot abstract more water or pollute without the full consent of all of the Riparian Owners according to Common Law. This attitude is supported by the Office of Public Works in their publishing a page on Riparian Rights and Responsibilities. They state “You have the responsibility to pass on flow without obstructing of polluting the water otherwise affecting the rights of the owners downstream.” The Treatment Works has this responsibility to us. We are willing to go as far as it takes, even to the High Court, to defend our Rights before we will allow the River to be destroyed.

This kind of protection of a River by the Riparian Owners is unique in Ireland, in history, and possibly in other countries. We are committed to seeing that our treasured resource of the Vartry River is kept safe for future generations, and would like to feel that Wicklow County Council and Irish Water would step back and think about the importance of this to all of us, before putting 2.5 times the pollution into the river and completely cutting it off from its source.

River Vartry Survey

The Vartry Angling and Conservation Club has been instrumental in getting experts from the UK, The Wild Trout Trust, to travel over and survey our River. We can not thanks them enough for the most comprehensive study of the Vartry River since St. Patrick stepped out of his boat and onto the banks of the River Dee, as it was once known. After my extensive all the historical documents on the River, this will be the one looked at in 200 years from now.

Thank you Luke for your perseverance to making this happen.

The full document is attached here and can be read and studied. River Vartry Survey The purpose originally was to look at the possible reconstruction of the Weir at Ashford, but we can now follow this in our future efforts to improve and keep safe the river. Their comments on the Weir should be followed and efforts should be made to make the Weir look nice, but without reconstructing it and following the guidelines indicated here.

Irish Water Roundwood Treatment Works Upgrade Threatens River Vartry

We held a meeting to review our Objection to the Treatment Works Upgrade which was well attended by members and the public. We added 6 more Riparian Owners who we had not identified previously. We now have probably 90% of the owners together, which strengthens our sphere of influence.

I retold the original vision of why we started the society and perhaps it is worth retelling.

I woke one morning with a dream/vision of the River Vartry winding its way through all of our lives who live along the River. It flows from one to another and links us all. I saw all of the Owners and neighbours holding hands on both sides of the River, making a continuous chain from the Reservoir to the Sea. There were fathers, sons, daughters, grandchildren, and great grandchildren all committed to keeping the River safe from threats such as this.

This sponsorship of a River ends up being unique and a real force to keeping the River Vartry safe and improving its quality of water and fish better and better. This will ensure that the River will pass on from generation to generation providing Wicklow with the channel and Ecosystem of wildlife and protected species.

It was clear from the meeting that we are going to fight this Upgrade until we are sure that it does not harm the River Vartry in any way. All are committed. If you want to see our Objection which covers all of the major threats and Irish Water’s callous dismissal of damage, please contact me or you can look on Wicklow County Council Planning Reference 16363. It will be lodged on the 3rd of May. If you wish to object, you will need to get it in by the 12th of May when the date for submissions closes.