Third consultation begins on Arklow wastewater plant
IRISH WATER has announced that a four-week non-statutory consultation period for the Arklow Wastewater Treatment Plant begins today, Wednesday, October 11.
As part of the public consultation, two drop-in information events will be held at the Arklow Municipal District Offices from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, October 19, and Thursday, October 26. Interested parties are invited to attend and speak to members of the project team, who will be available to provide further information.
During this consultation phase, Irish Water is seeking public feedback on the design of the plant and how it will change how the area looks as well as the Environmental Impact Assessment Report that is being developed for the project.
Written submissions can be emailed to Irish Water at arklowtp@water.ie or can be sent by post to Arklow Wastewater Treatment Plant Project, Irish Water, Colvill House, Talbot Street, Dublin 1. The deadline for these written submissions is Wednesday, November 15.
John Joyce from Irish Water said the body had been ‘engaging with the local community at every stage of this project and will continue to keep them updated throughout the process.’ He also urged all interested parties to attend the information events.
‘It is a top priority for Irish Water to stop the discharge of untreated wastewater into the River Avoca. We have been engaging with the local community at every stage of this project and will continue to keep them updated throughout the process,’ said Mr Joyce.
This is the third public consultation regarding Arklow’s long-awaited wastewater treatment plant. The first took place from October to December 2014 in relation to the first phase of the site selection process, while the second was from May to July 2015 on the second phase for the Emerging Preferred Site at Ferrybank. Feedback from both of these has been reviewed by the project team and will feed into the development of the Environmental Impact Statement which is being prepared for the planning submission, Irish Water said.
Irish Water is working in partnership with Wicklow County Council to deliver the Arklow Wastewater Treatment Plant. While the plant will benefit the 15,000 people who live and work in Arklow, it will have the capability to treat a 36,000 population equivalent.
The project will also include two interceptor sewer pipelines (along North and South Quay) to bring untreated wastewater to the proposed plant and a marine sea outfall pipe to safely discharge the treated wastewater effluent to the Irish Sea.