NI Water is appealing for the assistance of the community after the illegal dumping of septic waste and sewage related debris in the sewage network caused a blockage and subsequent pollution incident at Lisnarick Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) in Fermanagh.

Nigel Armstrong, Field Manager for the area, commented: "Staff reacted to an alarm at Lisnarick WwTW where on arrival, the operator found the treatment plant had been overwhelmed with a sudden surge of rags and septic waste blocking the inlet screening equipment. This resulted in contamination of the sewage treatment process and pollution to the receiving stream.

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"It was obvious the works had received an unauthorised load of waste dumped into the sewage network. Rural treatment plants of this size serve small villages and are designed for steady flows of domestic sewage, they are not designed for surges or shock loads of waste.

"Unfortunately, incidents of this nature are an all too common problem at some of our smaller WwTW's. All our facilities provide an essential service for the community, so any damage impacts on service delivery by NI Water. The cost is also a factor, this creates a needless drain on resources that could be better used to improve services."

(CD/JP)