APPENDIX 3 Appropriate Assessment for Scotstown & Ballinode WwTP’s. D0494-01 D0435-01 For inspection purposes only. Consent of copyright owner required for any other use. EPA Export 07-10-2011:03:33:03 Appendix 3: Monaghan County Council Water Services Department Comhairle Chontae Mhuineachain Roinn Seirbise Uisce SCOTSTOWN & BALLINODE WASTEWATER TREATMENT WORKS Waste Water Discharge License Application Application Register Numbers: D0494-01 & D0435-01 For inspection purposes only. Consent of copyright owner required for any other use. Regulation 18 (3) (b) Further Information Response Scotstown & Ballinode WWTP Appropriate Assessment Screening 1 EPA Export 07-10-2011:03:33:03 Contents Introduction ............................................................................ 3 Management of the Site .............................................................. 3 Project DescriptionI. .................................................................... 3 Figure 1: Location of nearest designated sites to Scotstown & Ballinode WwTP’s ......... 5 Characteristics of the Site ............................................................ 12 .. Assessment of Significance .......................................................... 12 Appendix 1 Screening (Natural Heritage) .......................................... 12 Figure 2: Flow Diagram of the DOEHLG Circular L8/08 completed for the Scotstown & Ballinode WwTP’s . 14 Appendix 2 Screening (Archaeological Heritage) ................................. 15 Screening Conclusion .................................................................. 17 For inspection purposes only. Consent of copyright owner required for any other use. Scotstown & Ballinode WWTP Appropriate Assessment Screening 2 EPA Export 07-10-2011:03:33:03 1. Introduction In accordance with the Waste Water Discharge (Authorisation) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 684 of 2007) Monaghan County Council submitted Waste Water Discharge Licence applications to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for Scotstown and Ballinode Wastewater treatment Works. The following report has been produced to form a response to the EPA correspondence of 6th May 201 1 (Notice in accordance with Regulation 18(3) of the Waste Water Discharge (Authorisation) Regulations 2007) for ‘Section F: Existing & Impact of the discharge($ ’, which requires an appropriate assessment to be completed for these two agglomerations. Scotstown and Ballinode villages are neighbouring villages some 2.4km apart as the crow flies and discharges fkom both of these WwTW are into the river Blackwater, it was deemed therefore appropriate, to prepare one Appropriate Assessment report for the discharges from both of these agglomerations. 2. Management of the Sites The Scotstown and Ballinode Waste Water Treatment Works (WwTW) and their discharges are not directly connected with or necessary to the management of any European site (Special Area of Conservation, SAC or Special Protection Area, SPA). 3. Project Description Note: A brief description of the treatment works and associated discharges is given in this section, further detailed information is contained within the Waste Water Discharge Licence Application files RejDO494-01 & 00435-01. For inspection purposes only. Scotstown WwTP - D0494-01:Consent of copyright owner required for any other use. The waste water treatment works is designed to cater for a population equivalent of 1000 and is currently accepting effluent flows of approximately 520 PE. A network of gravity sewers and associated rising main, collect and transport waste water from the Scotstown village and environs, to the WwTW located at the South East of the village. The WwTW consists of inlet works, storm storage, Ferric dosing, two primary settlement tanks, a Rotating Biological Contactor (RBC), two filter beds, final settlement tank and return activated sludge system. The primary discharge of the waste water works is to the Blackwater river at NGR 261140E 336760N in the townland of Teraverty adjacent to the WwTW. There is a storm overflow from a storm holding tank located at NGR 261135E 336742N in the event of continuous storm conditions whereby the storm tank fills up and the treatment works is at full capacity, discharge is into the river Blackwater. The storm overflow complies with Procedures and Criteria for Storm Water Overflows published by the Dept. of the Environment 1995. The Blackwater River is located in the Neagh Bann International River Basin District. Scotstown & Ballinode WWTP Appropriate Assessment Screening 3 EPA Export 07-10-2011:03:33:03 From 2010 results, the treated effluent has an average BOD concentration of 12mg/l, average COD concentration of 37.17mg/l and average suspended solids concentration of 26 mg/l. Average concentration of nutrients are as follows: Total Phosphorous 0.9mg/l (P) and Total Nitrogen 14.9 mg/l. At present the waste water treatment plant is fully meeting the required standards as set out in the Urban Waste Water Regulations 2001 (S.I. 254 of 2001) for the limits set on BOD, COD and suspended solids. Ballinode WwTP - D0435-01: The waste water treatment works is designed to cater for a population equivalent of 1000 and is currently accepting effluent flows of approximately 462 PE. A network of gravity sewers and associated rising main, collect and transport waste water from the Ballinode village and environs, to the WwTW located at the South of the village. The WwTW consists of inlet works, storm storage, Ferric dosing, primary settlement tank, a Rotating Biological Contactor (RBC), two filter beds, final settlement tanks and return activated sludge system. The primary discharge of the waste water works is to the Blackwater river at NGR 263057E 335886N in the townland of Quiglough adjacent to the WwTW. There is a storm overflow from a storm holding tank located at NGR 263003E 335851N, in the event of continuous storm conditions whereby the storm tank fills up and the treatment works is at full capacity, discharge is into the river Blackwater. The storm overflow complies with Procedures and Criteria for Storm Water Overflows published by the Dept. of the Environment 1995. The Blackwater River is located in the Neagh Bann International River Basin District. From 2010 results, the treated effluent has an average BOD concentration of 2.3mg/l, average COD concentration of 3 1.8mg/l and average suspended solids concentration of 6.17 mg/l. Average concentration of nutrients are as follows: Total Phosphorous 0.85mg/l (P) and Total Nitrogen 16.39 mg/l. At present the waste water treatment plant is fully meeting the required standards as set out in the Urban Waste Water For inspection purposes only. Regulations 2001 (S.I. 254Consent of of copyright2001) ownerfor requiredthe limits for any other set use. on BOD, COD and suspended solids, slightly elevated levels of Total Nitrogen were recorded on occasion, this can be attributed to mechanical problems with the filter beds which have since been remedied. Both plants are manned every day by caretakers for a number of hours and both plants are also linked to the Monaghan County Council SCADA system which provides an alarm facility in the event of a fault. The Blackwater river is not identified as salmonid water under EC (Quality of Salmonid Water) Regulations 1988. The overall river Framework Directive status for the Blackwater River is la, hence it is at risk of failing to attain ‘good status’ by 2015. This section of the Blackwater River where the discharge points for Scotstown and Ballinode WwTP’s are located is not classified as ‘sensitive’, however further downstream (circa. 7.6km) the Blackwater River is classified as ‘sensitive’ from it’s confluence with the Shambles River in Monaghan town to Newmills Bridge. Monaghan County Council monitors the river directly upstream and downstream of both treatment plants. The results of which are contained within Section F of both Scotstown & Ballinode WWTP Appropriate Assessment Screening 4 EPA Export 07-10-2011:03:33:03 discharge licence applications along with the assimilative capacity calculations of the receiving water - Blackwater River. The conclusion of these calculations as outlined in Section F of the discharge applications is that the impact of the Scotstown and Ballinode WwTP discharges, can be assimilated into the river and will not have a pollution effect over long distances. The Scotstown and Ballinode WwTP’s are not in or on the boundary of an NHA, SAC or SPA. The nearest conservation sites are some proposed National Heritage Area’s namely, Mullaghmore Lake (South) pNHA 1.4km North East of Scotstown village, Drumreaske Lough pNHA 1.4km South East of Ballinode village, Rosefield Lake and Woodland pNHA 1.7km South of Ballinode village and Wrights Wood pNHA 3.4km South East of Ballinode village. None of these proposed NHA’s are located upstream or downstream of the discharge locations of Scotstown or Ballinode WwTP and they are all a significant distance from the discharge locations. The nearest designated Natura 2000 conservation site to the WwTP’s is Slieve Beagh Special Protected Area (SPA) and Esbrack Bog National Heritage Area (NHA). They are located circa. 6km North West of Scotstown village and circa. 8 km from Ballinode village respectively. Both Slieve Beagh SPA and Esbrack Bog NHA are interlinked in the one area with Slieve Beagh extending into Northern Ireland. These sites are located upstream of the discharge points of both WwTp’s. Figure 1 denotes the proximity of these sites to the treatment plants. Figure 1: