NI Water has completed an innovative new Integrated Constructed Wetland (ICW) for wastewater treatment at Castle Archdale, County Fermanagh.
The environmentally sustainable Castle Archdale site is the second ICW to be constructed by NI Water.
ICWs are designed, built and operated by man but are based on processes that occur naturally within indigenous wetlands providing an environment where the interaction of the wetland and the plants cleanse the wastewater.
The investment has seen the construction of a series of shallow treatment ponds, the careful selection of plants providing the retention time and the capacity to treat wastewater from the Castle Archdale area.
Sara Venning, NI Water’s Chief Executive said:
“NI Water is pleased to be able to improve wastewater services for customers in the Castle Archdale area through sustainable projects like this. The new ICW will deliver improved wastewater treatment, whilst creating an aesthetically-pleasing area, rich in biodiversity, and potentially an educational resource.
“The ICW solution has been developed on natural treatment processes. This is the second occasion that this method has been used in Northern Ireland and it is an important and significant step towards the development of more environmentally-friendly solutions to wastewater treatment throughout Northern Ireland.”
Councillor Stephen McCann, Chairman of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council said the scheme was an excellent example of how the challenge of dealing with wastewater can be met using an innovative engineering approach.
The new wetland can accommodate seasonal fluctuations in flow and is therefore ideally suited to the Castle Archdale area. The ICW method has an established record in Europe of providing a low cost, low energy and low maintenance alternative to mechanical wastewater treatment. NI Water believes that the natural environmentally-friendly solution will accommodate the future development needs of the Castle Archdale area, while promoting a natural ecosystem.
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