29/05/18
The Determination of the Appeal by An Bord Pleanála for the Vartry Water Treatment Plant (Appeal Reference PL 27.247745 – Planning Reference 16 363) required the preparation of a Schedule of Commitments.
This is the document is submitted to Wicklow County Council in compliance with Appeal
Condition 2 (b).
The Condition is worded as follows:
2. The following shall apply in relation to mitigation measures and commitments:
(a) The mitigation measures and commitments identified in the Environmental Reports and other plans and particulars submitted with the planning application, and the further particulars submitted by the applicant at the oral hearing, shall be implemented in full by the developer, except as may otherwise be required in order to comply with the following conditions.
(b) All mitigation measures and commitments, including relevant matters which emanate from the planning conditions below, shall be compiled into a Schedule of Commitments, which shall be a single document, a draft version of which shall be submitted to the planning authority within three months of the date of this decision.
(c) No development including enabling works shall commence prior to receipt of the written agreement of the planning authority in relation to a final Schedule of Commitments. In default of agreement the matter shall be referred to An Bord Pleanála.
Mitigation Measures
Operational
3. The operation of the proposed development shall be in accordance with the following:
(a) Water abstraction shall not exceed the established volume of eighty million litres per day.
(b) A minimum compensation flow of five million litres per day shall be discharged.
(c) The method of delivery of this flow shall be by way of the seven sand filter beds which are to be retained.
(d) The branch pipework proposed to deliver the discharge shall have a capacity of at least fifteen million litres per day and the valve controlling the branch pipework shall be capable of remote control and variability.
(e) The practice of ‘back pumping’ shall cease.
(f) All supernatants shall be recycled to the head of the works.
(g) Within three months of the operation of the proposed development the existing water abstraction at Annagolen Bridge shall cease.
(h) The existing interceptor channel shall be retained for the delivery of surface water only.
(i) All chemical dosing shall be relocated to the site of the new water treatment plant and the existing infrastructure adjacent to the river fully decommissioned.
Hydrology
4. The following shall apply in relation to the monitoring of flow:
(a) Within six months of the date of this decision the developer shall install and maintain two hydrometric gauging stations, one on-site in the Vartry River and a second one further down the Vartry River catchment, which shall be permanently established with a fixed structure incorporating suitable fish passage and shall accurately measure and record in real time the combined flows from the water treatment plant discharge and the spillway channel.
(b) The locations shall be subject to the written agreement of the planning authority following consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency and Inland Fisheries Ireland.
(c) The existing weir in the discharge chamber shall be calibrated and its performance evaluated.
(d) The availability of data shall be in accordance with the requirements of the planning authority. The developer shall also make information available to the planning authority on request and shall present an annual report summarising key issues which shall also be made available for public inspection by the developer.
Aquatic Ecology
5 The developer shall undertake a wetted area fisheries habitat mapping and hydrological monitoring to include a fisheries area assessment. Details shall be submitted to the planning authority and the development shall comply with the requirements of the planning authority following consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency and Inland Fisheries Ireland. The duration of this assessment shall be for the construction period.
Environmental Management
6. An Environmental Management Plan and Invasive Species Management Plan shall be submitted by the developer to the planning authority.
(a) This shall include inter alia a construction programme for the works, hours of construction and a traffic management plan and shall incorporate the Final Schedule of Commitments to include measures for the protection of the natural environment and to mitigate noise and air quality impacts.
(b) The developer shall retain the services of a suitably qualified Environmental Clerk of Works to monitor and record the implementation of the mitigation measures, the impact of works on the environment and to record and investigate any environmental complaints received from the public. This person shall be given power to suspend or take further mitigation measures as necessary.
(c) The written agreement of the planning authority in relation to the above measures shall be obtained prior to commencement of any works including enabling works.
Report
Draft AIE
Reports on abstraction volumes since plant commissioning
Reports on compensatory flow since plant commissioning
Locations of two hydrometric gauging stations on the River Vartry (one station is below Ashford, at Mount Usher Gardens)
Annual reports on flow gauging data
Invasive species management plan
Environmental Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan
Report on the decommissioning of abstraction operations at Annagolen bridge
Report on retention of existing interceptor channel, and pathway for treatment chemicals / treated water to river
Note: EPA audit report gives a good overview of upgrade, recent chemical incidents, and monitoring systems at the WTP