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  • 10/06/2025
Muir says protecting Derry’s drinking water key as he prepares to launch Mobuoy consultation this week 

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00:00Safeguarding public health, ensuring safe drinking water and reducing the
00:05environmental impact of the Maboy site is of paramount importance to me. My
00:12department recognises that it has a duty under the Water Northern Ireland Order
00:151999 to promote the cleanliness of water in waterways and underground strata and
00:21will continue to take action to safeguard water quality and the
00:24environment at Maboy. There is no room for complacency and I take a discharge
00:29of this duty very seriously. To this end my officials have produced draft
00:35technical remediation strategy for the Maboy site. The draft remediation strategy
00:41has been developed to mitigate against the long-term risk that the contaminated
00:45site poses to water quality in the River Fawn and to address contamination of the
00:51Fawn ground water body. Northern Ireland Water's Carmoni Water Treatment Works takes
00:57the supply from the river water abstracted less than two kilometres downstream of the
01:02Maboy site and safeguarding the drinking water supply and the environment is
01:06unequivocally a priority for me. There is no room for complacency and that is why I am
01:12now moving to launch the consultation on a draft remediation strategy designed to
01:17address the risks posed by the Maboy site. My officials will require some time, likely to be
01:22just a few days, to address the logistical details of the launch of the consultation
01:27but I hope to launch it later this week with the engagement events planned for
01:31September. This was an abhorrent crime of an industrial scale and I've been on the
01:38record before I took up this job and I'm happy to confirm it again today that I do
01:42believe there's merit for a public inquiry. So I will be taking a paper to my
01:46executive colleagues in regards to this but the cost associated with the site you
01:50rightly outline is likely to be significant. This could cost up to 700
01:55million pounds to remediate this site and I will be looking to the UK
01:59Government not just in terms of financial support in terms of any future
02:03public inquiry but also in terms of the remediation of the site because these are
02:07significant costs for us as an executive to bear whilst we're continuing to
02:12deliver public services in Northern Ireland and also to do the good work in
02:16terms of supporting agriculture and improving our environment more broadly.

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