Major new waste treatment ponds set for Ballykelly

NI Water is set to get the official go-ahead to develop a major new waste treatment facility on the site of the former Shackletown Barracks in Ballykelly (September 19th).An application to create eight ponds to treat waste water over 25 hectares at the site has been approved by planning officials at Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council.The bid by NI Water, which is led by chief executive Sara Venning, is expected to be backed at the council’s next planning committee meeting next Wednesday.The integrated constructed wetland (ICW) is designed to treat discharge from the existing waste water treatment works (WWTW) at Shackletown.Built in the 1970s after the site was handed over the British Army, it was designed to serve a population of just under 8,000.However the closure of the barracks in 2008 meant the population was halved to around 3,600, leaving the works “both biologically and hydraulically oversized” and therefore failing to meet standards.The Ministry of Defence (MoD) transferred the site to the Northern Ireland Executive in October 2011.The approved plan was the result of an agreement between NI Water and DAERA.Effluent from the existing works will flow through the eight ponds, which NI Water says will be planted with a range of plants species, before being discharged downstream.