The £200 million Dublin Bay project has brought an unexpected benefit to Leinster farmers who this year have been using high-quality, pasteurised organic fertiliser made from Dublin sewage.
Just over 12,000 tonnes of the material have been manufactured from the 400,000 gallons of waste water, which contains 3 per cent solids, at the Ringsend plant where a modern thermal dryer has been installed.
The project began when the dumping of sewage in the bay was ended last year. The new fertiliser is being produced by treating the sludge generated at the plant.
"The sludge is thermally dried at air temperatures of 450 Celsius, killing pathogens and producing a high-quality pasteurised biosolid material which is useful in farming," said Mr Battie White, project manager of the scheme.
The fertiliser was spread on lands yesterday in Baltinglass, Co Wicklow. Mr White said that when waste from north Co Dublin was treated in Ringsend next year, production of the fertiliser, marketed under the name Biofert, would double.
"A submarine pipeline, to be laid across the bay next summer, will link a new pumping station in Sutton, currently under construction, with the treatment plant at Ringsend. The project is 85 per cent funded by EU cohesion funds," he said.
Mr White said the fertiliser produced from Dublin waste was tested before leaving Ringsend and before it was used on farms, and a soil analysis by two independent authorities, Teagasc and Independent Analytical Services, was carried out.
Mr Paddy O'Toole of Quinns in Baltinglass, Co Wicklow, who handles the product for farmers, said 50 farmers in Leinster had been using the product to grow cereals. They liked the product and on trial runs, had achieved good yields. The product was sold to the farmers for a nominal £3.50 a tonne and it was used at a rate of two tonnes to the hectare.
Mr Tom Nolan of Thornhill, Tullow, said he had initially been reluctant to use the material but having seen the results on a grain field, he was convinced it was useful. "It's also quite safe. I would be quite happy to lift a handful of Biofert but I do not see myself putting my hands into pig slurry or untreated poultry waste," he said.