An Bord Pleanála Grants Permission to Roundwood Treatment Works
January 24th, 2018 -- Posted in Active, Irish Water, Politics, River Basin Management, Threats, Water Directive | No Comments »The River Vartry Protection Society fought long and hard including bringing the matter to an Oral Hearing for An Bord Pleanála. The permission was granted taking into account most our conditions and changes that Irish Water made voluntarily over the two years of process. We want the upgrade, but we do not want to endanger the River Vartry. Like Mick Jagger said, “You can’t always get what you want, But if you try sometime you find, You get what you need”. Let me just highlight the result and why we see this as a Win-Win.
1- There will only be an extraction of maximum 80 Ml per day and never more.
2- There will be a single document created with all the commitments by 14th March.
3- 5ML per day will come from the retained sand filters. We voiced our concern about the long-term viability of this and we wanted more water but the pipe will be remotely valved, and capable of 15ML/day should the future prove this is not sufficient to sustain the river.
4- Back pumping will cease.
5- All supernatants shall be recycled to the head of the works. This is a big change to the quality of the river, no nasty discharge that has been dumped for 150 years!
6- Within three months of operation Annagolen Abstraction shall cease (This was only supposed to be done when the Shannon came online and now means we will get 6.5-8ML/day all year round.)
7- The existing interceptor channel shall be retained for the delivery of surface water only. (We are not certain what the interceptor channel is!)
8- The Hazardous Chemicals storage and treatment will be decommissioned and a new one will be relocated to the new plant, far from the River. This will prevent any possible spillages and fish kills.
9- Two permanent gauging stations will be built, one at the top just after the compensatory flow and one further down.
10- Data to be made public.
11- Create a wetted area fisheries habitat mapping and hydrological monitoring to include fisheries area assessment.
12- An Environmental Management Plan and Invasive Species Management Plan will be submitted and a permanent Clerk of Works to monitor the effect on the Environment and complaints from the public.
I believe the time has come to work in cooperation with Irish Water and develop a common concern for the environment. They have shown their willingness to really listen to the public and we have shown our willingness to work together for the benefit of everyone.
We can balance between the abstraction and the environment.
Finally, we give our grateful thanks to the Inspector and Hydrologist and to An Bord Pleanála themselves for the wisdom to find a Win-Win situation in a most difficult case.