SURFERS CALL ON ENVIRONMENT MINISTER TO DELIVER SUSTAINABLE SEWAGE SOLUTION FOR NORTHERN IRELAND.

This week's decision by Environment Minister Dermot Nesbitt to lift the precautionary 'hold' he had placed on 56 planning applications regarding sewage problems has been welcomed by clean water advocates Surfers Against Sewage.

Failure to meet EU legislation on bathing water quality and urban waste water has been a big let down for Northern Ireland in recent years, but now there is a golden opportunity for the country's sewage system to be upgraded to ensure clean and safe water is available to all.

It is therefore vital that all current and future planning applications embrace sewage treatment systems that are clean, efficient and sustainable, and that any failing to meet this criteria should be refused outright by the Department of the Environment.

Surfers Against Sewage have been leading the campaign against one of the biggest planning applications proposed - the North Coast Wastewater Treatment programme. Acting on behalf of all water-users in the Portrush/Portstewart region we have been protesting against the proposal as it fails to include tertiary treatment such as UV (ultraviolet light disinfection).

The current proposal, brought forward by the Water Service, plans only to treat sewage effluent from the urban areas of Castlerock, Coleraine, Portrush and Portstewart to a secondary level. Discharging from Portrush, this treatment will still put bathers and particularly water users at risk as not all bacteria and viruses will be killed off in the treatment process, instead surviving in the seawater for comparatively long periods of time before they die off.

UV disinfection has been used effectively by water companies such as Wessex Water, Welsh Water and Yorkshire Water in providing clean water at little extra capital cost. UV kills off the bacteria and viruses before the effluent hits the water, making watersports and bathing much safer. It also removes the need for costly long sea outfalls.

Richard Hardy, Campaigns Assistant at Surfers Against Sewage says: "The Department of the Environment should be insisting that all coastal and inland water discharges should include tertiary level treatment. It must also adopt an approach whereby planning applications which use clean technology, re-use water effectively and find sustainable solutions to dealing with sewage sludge are given the green light. Sustainability must form the backbone to the sewage investment strategy Minister Nesbitt has promised by December 2002".

For further details contact Vicky or Richard at SAS on 0845 458 3001