Danny Kennedy today visited Newcastle Wastewater Treatment Works to view progress on Northern Ireland Water’s extensive £7m project to improve the standard of treated effluent at the County Down seaside town.

The challenging 18-month project, which got underway at the beginning of the year, will see the existing building almost double in size to house a new storm water tank as well as modern new treatment processes that will raise the standard of discharge to meet future EU directives.

Commenting on the progress, Minister Kennedy said: “This is an important programme of work involving significant financial investment by NI Water. I welcome the news that difficult elements of the project have now been completed and work is continuing on schedule to meet more stringent directives in May 2013.”

Speaking about the wider benefits that the project will deliver, Trevor Haslett Chief Executive of NI Water added: “The award of this contract is good news for County Down on both an economic and environmental level. Not only will the bathing waters at Newcastle benefit from this major NI Water investment, but the local construction industry is also being given a welcome boost with this significant project.”

The contractors for the Newcastle project are Saintfield-based civil engineering company, Dawson-Wam and Newry-based water treatment specialists, Ovivo Ireland.