Irish Water picks site for wastewater treatment facility at Arklow

Ireland’s national water utility Irish Water has selected the Old Wallboard Factory at North Quay, Ferrybank as the preferred site for its new wastewater treatment facility in the town of Arklow.

The town is one of the 45 towns identified for untreated wastewater discharge by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and releases its sewage in the Avoca river.

The potential treatment facility is expected to better health conditions and water quality for the town residents and those from its surrounding areas, besides offering environmental protection to the water resources.

Expected to involve an investment of €30m, the project will involve construction of a treatment facility and associated pumping stations to serve around 36,000 people.

It will also involve construction of a pipeline to enable transportation of untreated wastewater to the facility and then its transfer to the outfall after it’s treated.

Another outfall pipe will also be set in place as a part of the project to enable safe discharge of the treated wastewater to the Irish Sea or the Avoca river.

Irish Water Asset Management head Jerry Grant said: "Irish Water is committed to ending the discharge of untreated wastewater in Arklow, along with the other 44 locations identified in the recent EPA Urban Wastewater Treatment Report.

"As outlined in the recent Irish Water Business Plan, the utility has earmarked almost €2bn in improving wastewater quality and capacity up to 2021. Over €30m of this is due to be spent in Arklow."

Preferred location for the new facility has been picked by Irish Water following public consultation processes and consultation with An Bord Pleanála, Wicklow County Council and the Irish EPA.

Planning application for the development is yet to be submitted and is expected to be prepared after a thorough Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) at the site which will start soon and last for around 12 months.