An underground water treatment works has opened in County Down, the first of its kind in Northern Ireland. The £18 million project, which is close to the Fofanny Dam in the Lower Mournes, will supply 50 million litres of water a day to South Down and parts of Armagh. In addition, it has been landscaped with local vegetation including 10,000 native species of heather planted on the roof. Department for Regional Development (DRD) Minister David Cairns, said that protecting the natural environment was a major consideration, "The clever underground design allows a high level of service to be offered without compromising the beauty of the surrounding Mournes landscape."
The facility ensures that more than 100,000 consumers will receive the highest quality drinking water, and is a good example of the scale of investment required to improve water and sewerage infrastructure throughout Northern Ireland. For a five year period up to 2007/08, around 1.1 billion has been made available, an investment which must be sustained.
