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National Wastewater Sludge Management Plan

Uisce Éireann has published the first National Wastewater Sludge Management Plan (NWSMP) outlining its strategy for managing wastewater sludge over the next 25 years.

The NWSMP sets out a nationwide standardised approach to ensure that treated wastewater sludge across the country is effectively managed, stored, transported and re-used or disposed of in a sustainable way, to the benefit of the public and the environment we all live in.

An information brochure summarising the key measures included in the NWSMP is available here.

Environmental Assessment and Consultation

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Appropriate Assessment (AA) have been carried out in parallel with the development of the NWSMP. The general public, interested parties and statutory bodies have been involved in the development of the NWSMP as part of the SEA and AA process through public consultation at keys stages, including:

Consultation 1

A six-week non-statutory public consultation seeking feedback on the SEA Scoping Report for the NWSMP to determine the scope and level of detail of information to be included in the environmental report (May-June 2015). The NWSMP SEA Scoping Report and Consultation 1 Report are available to view or download at the following links:

Consultation 2

An eight-week statutory public consultation seeking feedback on the Draft NWSMP and associated SEA Environmental Report and Natura Impact Statement (NIS) (March - May 2016).

The environmental reports associated with the Draft NWSMP are available to view or download at the following links:

All feedback received during the public consultations was reviewed by the project team and relevant feedback has been incorporated into the final NWSMP. The SEA Statement outlines how environmental considerations have been integrated into the NWSMP and how consultation influenced the development of the NWSMP. The SEA Statement and NIS are available to view or download at the following links:


What happens next

The NWSMP is a 25 year strategy which will be reviewed every five years. The current NWMSP will be revised and updated in 2021. The actions and objectives as set out in the NWSMP will be revised and updated in 2021. The actions and objectives as set out in the NWSMP developed in 2016 will be reviewed and progress measured. The revised plan will invite feedback during its development prior to adoption. Uisce Éireann would like to thank all of those that fed into the development of the NWSMP.