Waste Water Discharge Licence Application for Portrane Donabate Rush Lusk Agglomeration. Attachment F1: Assessment of Impact. For inspection purposes only. Consent of copyright owner required for any other use. EPA Export 29-09-2011:04:17:42 Fingal County Council For inspection purposes only. Portrane DonabateConsent of copyright Rush owner required Lusk for any other Waste use. Water Discharge Licence Application Appropriate Assessment Aug 2011 EPA Export 29-09-2011:04:17:42 Portrane Donabate Rush Lusk Waste Water Discharge Licence Application – Appropriate Assessment Contents 1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................3 2 SCREENING ........................................................................................................................2 2.1 MANAGEMENT OF THE SITE ......................................................................................2 2.2 DESCRIPTION OF PLAN OR PROJECT..........................................................................2 2.3 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SITE................................................................................4 2.4 ASSESSMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE ..............................................................................11 For inspection purposes only. Consent of copyright owner required for any other use. EPA Export 29-09-2011:04:17:42 Portrane Donabate Rush Lusk Waste Water Discharge Licence Application – Appropriate Assessment 1 INTRODUCTION Fingal County Council is submitting a Waste Water Discharge Licence Application to the EPA for the Portrane Donabate Rush Lusk Agglomeration under the Wastewater Discharge (Authorisation) Regulations 2007, S.I. 684 of 2007. The Primary Discharge for the Agglomeration is to the Northern Western Irish Sea east of St Ita’s Hospital Portrane through a long sea outfall. There are the following European sites within 5km of the primary discharge: Rogerstown Estuary, Lambay Island, Portrane Shore Natural Heritage Area, Broadmeadow Estuary and the Malahide Shellfish Water. Under the Wastewater Discharge (Authorisation) Regulations it is necessary to determine if there is likely to be a significant impact from the waste water discharges from the Portrane Donabate Rush Lusk agglomeration on the European Sites This report has been prepared in accordance with the recommendations of the EPA document “Note on Appropriate Assessments for the purposes of the Waste Water Discharge (Authorisation) Regulations, 2007” and the Circular L8/08 ‘Water Services Investment and Rural Water Programmes – Protection of Natural Heritage and National Monuments’ issued by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. The EPA Note identifies 4 Stages in the Appropriate Assessment Process in line with the European Commission Methodological Guidance on the provision of Article 6(3) and 6(4) of the Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC (EC2001) and the European Commissions Guidance “Managing Natura 2000 Sites” and a number of steps within each stage. 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This report has been structured toConsent generally of copyright follow owner required the for stagesany other use. and steps identified in the above guidance as follows; Stage1 – Screening Step 1 – Management of the Site Step 2 - Description of Plan or Project Step 3 – Characteristics of the Site Step 4 – Assessment of Significance Stage 2 – Appropriate Assessment Step 1 - Information Required Step 2 - Impact Prediction Step 3 - Conservation Objectives Step 4 – Mitigation Measures EPA Export 29-09-2011:04:17:42 Portrane Donabate Rush Lusk Waste Water Discharge Licence Application – Appropriate Assessment Stage 3 – Assessment of Alternative Solutions - Identify alternative ways of achieving the objectives of the project avoiding adverse impacts on the integrity of the designated site Stage 4 – Assessment where no alternative solution exists - Identify if there are imperative reasons of overriding public interest and if there are human health and safety considerations or important environmental benefits. 2 Stage 1 - Screening 2.1 Management of the Site: Is the plan or project directly connected with or necessary to the management of the site? The answer is always No for wastewater discharges. 2.2 Description of Plan or Project A new WWTP is under construction (Aug 2011) adjacent to the existing WWTP in Portrane. This new WWTP will treat sewage from the three former agglomerations of Portrane/Donabate, Rush and Lusk and will also cater for future development in these For inspection purposes only. agglomerations as well as capturingConsent areas of copyright which owner are required at forpresent any other use. being served by individual private on-site waste water treatment systems. The new WWTP has a design capacity of 60,000p.e. The discharge from the agglomeration is mainly domestic with some commercial. The foul water collection system includes gravity sewers and pumping stations which direct the flows to the new Portrane WWTP. The extent of the agglomeration and the location of the primary discharge point is shown on Fig. 1, below. 2 EPA Export 29-09-2011:04:17:42 Portrane Donabate Rush Lusk Waste Water Discharge Licence Application – Appropriate Assessment For inspection purposes only. Consent of copyright owner required for any other use. 3 EPA Export 29-09-2011:04:17:42 Portrane Donabate Rush Lusk Waste Water Discharge Licence Application – Appropriate Assessment The new Portrane WWTP will discharge to the North Western Irish Sea. The following European sites are within 5km of the primary discharge: Rogerstown Estuary, Lambay Island, Portrane Shore Natural Heritage Area, Broadmeadow Estuary and the Malahide Shellfish Water. Rogerstown Estuary is a Special Protection Area (Rogerstown Estuary SPA; Site Code: 004015) and a Special Area of Conservation (Rogerstown Estuary SAC; Site Code: 00208), a Natural Heritage area, a Ramsar Conservation Wetland and a Statutory Nature Reserve. The nearest point of the European site is approx 0.8km from the new primary discharge point. Lambay Island is a Special Protection Area (Site Code: 004015) and a Special Area of Conservation (Site Code: 00208) and a Natural Heritage area. Portrane Shore Natural Heritage Area extends along the foreshore and connects with the Rogerstown European Site to the north and the Broadmeadow Estuary European Site to the south. The nearest point of the European site is approx 0.6km from the new primary discharge point. The Broadmeadow Estuary is a cSAC (Malahide Estuary) and an SPA (Broadmeadow Estuary). It is also a Natural Heritage Area and a Ramsar site. The nearest point of the European site is approx 1.6km from the new primary discharge point. The Malahide Shellfish Water extends from the south end of Rogerstown Estuary to Portmarnock beach, commencing approx 1km offshore. The nearest point of the Shellfish Waters is approx 0.4km from the new primary discharge point. Other primary discharges occur from For inspectionthe purposesBalbriggan only. Skerries WWTP, from the Consent of copyright owner required for any other use. MalahideWWTP and the Swords WWTP. It is felt that the Balbriggan Skerries primary discharge is too far away to affect any of the European sites listed above. The Malahide and the Swords WWTPs discharge to the inner and outer Broadmeadow respectively. 2.3 Characteristics of the site: The following Characteristics of the nearby European sites have been taken from the National Parks and Wildlife Service’s (NPWS) website: 4 EPA Export 29-09-2011:04:17:42 Portrane Donabate Rush Lusk Waste Water Discharge Licence Application – Appropriate Assessment ROGERSTOWN ESTUARY Special Protection Area SITE SYNOPSIS Rogerstown estuary is situated about 2 km north of Donabate in north County Dublin. It is a relatively small, funnel shaped estuary separated from the sea by a sand and shingle peninsula and extending eastwards beyond the low water mark to include an area of shallow marine water. The estuary receives the waters of the Ballyboghil and Ballough rivers, both of which flow through intensive agricultural catchments. The estuary has a wide salinity range, from near full sea water to near full fresh water. The estuary is divided by a causeway and narrow bridge, built in the 1840s to carry the Dublin-Belfast railway line. The site contains good examples of a number of estuarine and coastal habitats listed on Annex I of the E.U. Habitats Directive. At low tide extensive intertidal sand and mud flats are exposed and these provide the main food resource for the wintering waterfowl. The intertidal flats of the estuary are mainly of sands, with soft muds in the north-west sector and along the southern shore. Associated with these muds are stands of Common Cord-grass (Spartina anglica). Green algae (mainly Enteromorpha spp. and Ulva lactuca) are widespread and form dense mats in the more sheltered areas. The intertidal vascular plant Beaked Tasselweed (Ruppia maritima) grows profusely in places beneath the algal mats and is grazed by herbivorous waterfowl (notably Brent Geese and Wigeon). The Lugworm (Arenicola marina) is common in the outer estuary and large Mussel beds (Mytilus edulis) occur at the outlet to the sea. Salt marsh fringes parts of the estuary, especially its southern shores. Common plant species of the saltmarsh include Sea Rush (Juncus maritimus), Sea Purslane (Halimione portulacoides) and Common Saltmarsh-grass For inspection (Puccinel purposes only.lia maritima). Consent of copyright