NI Water welcomes visitors to its Water Treatment Works

Staff from all areas of NI Water’s business - scientists, environmentalists, and water process supply technicians - were on hand to showcase the behind-the-scenes workings and processes that go into cleaning water and keeping it safe in an ever changing environment.

The events were part of NI Water’s new Quality Water campaign that highlights the significant, often unseen role our scientists and water quality experts play in ensuring the water NI Water provides meets strict quality standards all year round.

The six NI Water WTW open day events took place at Dorisland WTW, Loughmacrory WTW, Killylane WTW, Lough Fea WTW, Fofanny WTW and Killyhevlin WTW.

Gary Presho, Water Supply Area Manager East said: “We were delighted to be able to facilitate live demonstrations and tours hosted by our expert scientists, who test and check our water on a daily basis. The hands-on events were also an opportunity for the public to understand how their water is treated and safely tested before it is supplied to their taps at home, while getting involved in some key experiments with our scientific team.”

Alfie Ahern from Rathfriland High School visited NI Water’s Fofanny Water Treatment Works. Alfie said: “I came to this event to see how the water was brought to our taps. You don’t really think about until you’re here and it’s a big process. Visiting has helped me with learning for my GCSEs including Geography and Science.”

Dara Gillan from St Patrick’s Grammar School, Armagh visited NI Water’s Loughmacrory Water Treatment Works. Dara said: “When I visited Loughmacrory Water Treatment Works I learned about how water is treated. To be honest, I didn’t know how much goes into treating water. I learned a lot of new things from all the people here at NI Water. You know when you turn on a tap at home and you think that’s that. But to actually see what goes into treating the water and making it safe for me to drink, that was the most impactful thing for me to learn.”

Megan Cahill from St Louise’s Comprehensive College, Belfast visited NI Water’s Dorisland Water Treatment Works. Megan said: “My favourite part was going into the lab and seeing the chemical reactions that I do in school being used to clean the water.”

Poppy Kipling from Breda Academy, Belfast also visited NI Water’s Dorisland Water Treatment Works. Poppy said: “I learned about the entire processes that go on behind the water that I drink in Belfast and it was really interesting.”

Jane Dunlop who visited NI Water’s Killylane Water Treatment Works said: “Being part of the tour helped the children learn about applying various subjects that they are studying at home such as chemistry and they could see the importance of how various things in chemistry react and apply those subjects in real life. It was very informal just to see how the water comes in initially from the reservoir and all the various stages.”

Lisa Murray visited NI Water’s Lough Fea Water Treatment Works with students from St Patrick’s College, Dungannon. Lisa said: “Today was a really enjoyable experience. The students learned lots about how the water is actually filtered and treated here and the different chemicals that are used to clean the water. They also got a really good insight into what different career opportunities are available. I didn’t realise there were so many different stages for the water to go through and the sludge cake at the end was definitely the highlight for the pupils. They really enjoyed really seeing all the different dirt being pulled out and that was left behind after the water had been cleaned and filtered.”

Deborah Erskine MLA visited NI Water’s Killyhevlin Water Treatment Works. She said: “It’s amazing to see all the processes that are behind getting water from Lough Erne and getting it to our taps. I was mind blown at seeing that process. There’s a small team here actually so it was interesting to see how technology really helps them in their jobs to be able to flag up any issues and then what they do to sort any issues out as well.”

NI Water is grateful to McAdam Design for sponsoring a bus for some schools to attend the recent Water Treatment Works open day events.