Fofanny Water Treatment Works

 

Background and Need

At a cost of around £18m, the new Fofanny Water Treatment Works has been built to replace the existing Fofannybane plant situated in the western Mournes area.

 

Originally built in the 1960s, and subsequently extended on several occasions, Fofannybane Water Treatment Works treated water from Fofanny and Spelga Dams to serve approximately 100,000 consumers in the Banbridge, Portadown and Newry areas. It was originally designed to treat a maximum of 32 million litres of water a day but this figure was not sufficient to meet the growing levels of demand.

 

This, coupled with higher quality standards being imposed by the EU Drinking Water Directive, led to the need to extensively upgrade the system.   

The old, highly visual Fofannybane WTW has been demolished as part of this contract. A new underground clear water storage tank is being built on the site and the area is being landscaped to leave a much more attractive environment. This significant investment forms part of a wider multi-million pound programme of works being undertaken to upgrade the treatment and distribution of water right throughout Northern Ireland.

 

Location of the new works

The Mournes is a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and candidate for National Park status. In siting the new works, Northern Ireland Water, in association with expert architectural and environmental engineering consultants, considered various sites for the locations, taking into account environmental, engineering and economic criteria.

 

Consideration of environmental aspects led to a decision to minimise the visual impact and hence it was decided that the new works should be built underground – making the building invisible from as many viewpoints as possible.

 

Assessment of the criteria showed that the site most suitable for the new works was on previously disturbed land - which was used for tree cultivation - just north of the man made Fofanny Dam. Records indicated that this area showed no evidence of archaeological features and environmental studies suggested that the flora and fauna in the area demanded no special treatment.

 

 

Design and process of new works

The new Fofanny water treatment facility has been designed to treat up to 52 million litres of water (with the additional supply coming from Lough Island Reavy) in line with the latest quality standards set out by the EU Drinking Water Directive. The works will use the Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) process which is well proven and widely used throughout the water industry. This process provides an effective barrier against cryptosporidium entering the water supply which is essential in the protection of public health.

 

UK-based Earth Tech Engineering (part of the worldwide Tyco group) and local company, Farrans Construction Ltd, supported by Newtownards-based McAdam Design, have been responsible for the construction of the works.

 

 

The benefits of the new works

The new Fofanny Water Treatment Works is offering many benefits. Not only is it providing a safe and reliable drinking resource for future generations but it has also put an end to the visually unacceptable practice of dumping sludge on the catchment of Spelga Reservoir.

 

With a much more sophisticated design, the new works is offering increased flexibility for Northern Ireland Water - allowing them to treat water to a very high standard from a variety of sources to provide an enhanced service to a greater number of customers.

 

 


Overall, the building of Fofanny has seen the fusion of innovative engineering skills and sustainable environmental practices to produce a fully integrated, state-of-the-art water treatment facility for the 21st century.