NIEA regulates NIW discharges to the environment under the Water and Sewerage

Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 and the Water (Northern Ireland) Order 1999,

consented with conditions which are set to meet the requirements of the objectives of

the Water Framework Directive. NIEA assesses compliance by sampling the quality

19 wastewater treatment schemes to improve the quality of discharges from works

>250 population equivalent and 45 small wastewater treatment works as well as

improvements to 56 unsatisfactory intermittent discharges to meet quality standards.

NIEA are heavily involved in the prioritisation of investment to ensure funding is

targeted to those assets which would bring the most benefit to water quality.

Approximately £5.5 billion has been spent on NIW assets over the last 12 years

focusing on improving the quality of discharges into sensitive waters and achieving

compliance. Despite major improvements both in capital investment and operating

techniques significant investment is still required to make the difference on the

delivery of WFD Good Status and the protection of sensitive waters (Drinking Water

needs have to be determined by the Utility Regulator.

NI Water’s PC15 business plan had called for funding of £1.7 billion from 2015 –

2021 to address investment priorities in water and sewerage infrastructure. However

the Utility Regulator’s PC15 Final Determination concluded that £990 million was

appropriate in terms of delivering the improvements to water and sewerage services

as required by policy, while remaining affordable to the customer in terms of

charges. NIW has broadly achieved the PC15 investment requirements to date,

however constrained public expenditure budget allocations has resulted in a number

projects to be deferred into the next price control period with the agreement of the

Programme of Measures for the 2

Cycle. We have been working closely with NIW

to develop robust data collection to facilitate reported compliance assessment for

flow. Through this process we have identified other opportunities to develop a new

compliance model which will fully inform the prioritisation of capital investment and

involve the full review of discharge consents, new sampling regimes for sanitary

parameters, and reporting on flow and priority substances.

All new houses and businesses should have two separate sewers, separating foul

water to the sewer and storm water to discharge to local watercourses. When pipes

NIEA and NIW are supporting the ConnectRight campaign. The campaign is a

partnership of organisations who are working to reduce water pollution from drains

and sewers. The campaign focuses on:

- Raising awareness and understanding of/about misconnections, sewers and

drains and the environmental problems that they cause.

- Helping property owners and professionals to check drainage connections and

take action.

- Ensuring new drainage is connected right.

- Helping to develop and support effective practice, policy and regulation.

Within the 1

combined sewer overflows from the

sewerage infrastructure and the

discharges from WWTWs. It is

estimated that together, these make up

50 % of the overall loading of DIN to

Inner Belfast Lough alone. There is also

evidence of deteriorating microbial

water quality at the Shellfish Water

Protected Areas located in Inner Belfast

Belfast City Council’s proposed Local Development Plan can be implemented

without significant parallel investment in drainage & wastewater treatment.

While there is already considerable joint working by the various organisations to

address flooding problems and improve/protect water quality in the environment

there is as yet no agreed cross-department infrastructure plan at a strategic level to

support economic growth, provide for the long term management of flood risk and

improve water quality in the wider environment.

In July 2014, the Northern Ireland Executive agreed to set up an interdepartmental

group to develop a ‘Strategic Drainage Infrastructure Plan’ (SDIP) for Belfast to

the Living with Water Programme (LWWP), the Board of which includes senior

representatives from: DfI Rivers and Roads, DfI Finance, and DfI Water and

Drainage Policy Division (WDPD); NIEA; The Utility Regulator; BCC and NIW. The

where possible avoid traditional hard engineered drainage and wastewater solutions

involving long-term operating and maintenance costs. It is estimated that the delivery

of this programme will cost in the region of £1b. This funding is currently not secured.

In recent years there has been positive implementation of Sustainable Drainage

approval of SuDS schemes and solutions to the ongoing maintenance issues.

in May 2016 and introduced a definition of SuDS which can be adopted by NIW. The

Examples of sustainable drainage techniques can be seen across Northern Ireland,

with the installation of an infiltration tank in Dundonald where this retrospective storm

drainage system drains a 20 hectare housing development before a controlled

release of storm water to the natural environment and thereby removing a significant

quantity of storm water from the sewerage infrastructure.

NIW, DfI, Education Authority and the Department of Education invested in the

development of an innovative new rainwater garden to help reduce the risk of

flooding at the Clandeboye Primary School. £70,000 has been invested in the

garden, which is an innovative flagship project for NIW and the DfI, and is the first of

risk of flooding and improve bathing water quality in the Bangor area.

NIW, AFBI and DAERA are working collaboratively on the development of an

Integrated Ecosystem Model. The Model has been designed to model the complete

Trial projects are underway with Dundrum, LWWP, Shared Waters Enhancement

and Loughs Legacy (SWELL) and the NIW Shellfish & Bathing Waters Remediation

Project (SABRE) all applying the Integrated Ecosystem model principles. The

The SWELL project aims to improve water quality in the shared transitional waters of

Carlingford Lough & Lough Foyle through the improvement of wastewater assets

The project will use a holistic modelling strategy which will amalgamate the various

catchment and marine models to form an Ecosystem model. The output from the

modelling will identify where investment is needed to ensure the greatest contribution

to improved water quality. The project will also deliver two sewerage network and

wastewater treatment schemes which will provide improved wastewater treatment for

an additional 10,000 people in the eligible regions.

It is anticipated that the project will leave an ecosystem model for use by the water

companies, environmental regulators and other stakeholders in the eligible area to

identify future improvements to enhance water quality.

technologies in wastewater treatment. NIEA has been working with NIW on the

development of these schemes to ensure the treatment meets the WFD

now been fully decommissioned.

NIW has also installed a sustainable solution to replace the overloaded WWTWs

serving the village of Stoneyford to the northwest of Lisburn using an Integrated