BY MARK McKELVEY
FINTONA'S new £2 million Wastewater Treatment Works that has been operational for a year now was officially opened on Tuesday afternoon.
This facility that was described as "state of the art" and "completely modern" treats effluent for over 2,600 people in the Fintona area and is designed to operate completely unmanned with staff only having to make regular visits for maintenance.
Officially opening the works, Chairman of Omagh District Council, Cllr Sean Begley said, "I am delighted Northern Ireland Water has made this investment in the treatment works for the Fintona area. The local community and economy will benefit from the new works well into the 21st century with its capabilities to accommodate a growing local population — it is money well spent.
BENEFITTED
"This is the second major treatment works in the Omagh District area, with the other in Omagh itself which has clearly benefited from this investment. With Fintona today, I look forward to 2010 when he hope to have a world class infrastructure throughout the entire Omagh District area."
Trevor Haslett, Director of Engineering and Procurement, Northern Ireland Water said, "The 2500 plus people in the Fintona area that will benefit from the works is indicative of what has been happening right across Northern Ireland investing over £635 million in a three year period in Water and wastewater infrastructure and over the course of the next three years it is our plan to invest a further £670 million to fulfil our aim of delivering a world class water service."
West Tyrone SDLP Cllr Pat McDonnell explained that there is not only health benefits to be got from this new works in Fintona, but also the "downstream" effect on the environment and tourism in the area.
"The main benefit of this is the enhanced quality of the discharge, explained Cllr McDonnell. "The Quiggery is a very important subsidiary river to the Foyle system which is very important in terms of salmon and trout. As this discharge is much cleaner there is less damage to the environment, which then makes it better for fishing which could benefit tourism in the area."
Cllr McDonnell however continued to stress the need for similar investments to deliver long-promised sewage treatment works in other hamlets throughout the Omagh District such as Clanabogan, Tattyreagh, Eskra, Newtownsaville, and many more areas.
Speaking after a meeting between NIW officers and Omagh District Council held on Monday, the SDLP councillor said, "This was our first contact with the new government-owned company which will deliver water and sewerage services in the future. I left the representatives in no doubt as to our expectation that the driver in their new organisation must be public service, not fattening up the company for future privatisation.
"I referred in particular to the current failure to deliver the long-promised sewage treatment works at Clanabogan. I pointed out that Clanabogan has been the fastest-growing hamlet in our district and that the desire of many people to live in this very pleasant and convenient area was being frustrated by the lack of infrastructure - a problem common to many other hamlets.
"I have asked the Chief Executive of the Council to write to the incoming Minister for Regional Development, pointing out the urgency of the Clanabogan case. This treatment works should have been delivered by now and I will not hesitate to embarrass the new Go-Co if they do not move speedily on the matter."
