Vandalism at sewage works could lead to pollution, NI Water warns

Vandalism at a wastewater treatments works could lead to a major environmental incident, NI Water warned today.

The plant, treating raw sewage from 2,100 properties in Castlewellan and
Annsborough, Co Down, has been attacked 24 times over the last 12
months causing around £100,000 of damage.

The attacks, the most recent of which occurred on 13 January, have
seen control panels, computers and other equipment on the site targeted.
NI Water said the damage to equipment poses a threat to the treatment
processes being undertaken at the site and could lead to a major
pollution incident affecting local watercourses.

Alec McQuillan head of wastewater at NI Water said: “Almost £100,000
has been spent repairing damaged equipment, introducing increased
security and installing new equipment at the site. That expense creates a
drain on limited resources, and means that other priority improvements
to our services cannot be delivered. However, what worries us more is
the potential for a major pollution incident to occur as a result of the
damage being caused.

“This area has a well-deserved reputation for the beauty of the
waterways and coastline and we, as a company, view the protection of
that environment as a major priority. It is for this reason that we are
particularly concerned about the potential that these attacks have to
cause a significant incident.”