OFFICIALS of the Isle of Man Water and Sewerage Authority will face the public of Peel at a Requisition Meeting tomorrow evening (Tuesday).

However, the authority has already said that the meeting is “premature” and that “little will be gained” by discussing figures at a public meeting.

The purpose of the meeting - at 7.00pm in the Corrin Hall - is to discuss budget costings for the proposed IRIS Western Regional Sewage Treatment Works and to compare these with the costs for linking Peel to Meary Veg and transferring sewage from the Peel and St John’s catchments to Meary Veg for treatment.

In a statement issued this morning (Monday) the Authority says “it was, and still is, the intention to present its IRIS proposals for the west to Peel and German Commissioners prior to arranging a public presentation of the scheme.”

Tim Crookall, MHK for Peel and also the chairman of the Isle of Man Water and Sewerage Authority, said, “I met with the Commissioners and the Peel Action Group on May 19th and we are happy to arrange further meetings to talk through the proposals and answer any questions they may have about costings.

“As such, while we will of course attend the requisition meeting, we believe it is premature and that little will be gained in discussing the figures in an open public meeting, where figures may be taken out of context.”

The authority employed consulting engineers to provide professional advice on sewage treatment, pumping stations and pipelines. This advice culminated in the IRIS Regional Sewage Treatment Strategy Report being presented to Tynwald in 2007.

This demonstrated there would be a ?15m saving in capital expenditure in moving to Regional Sewage Treatment rather than pumping sewage from the North and West of the Island to Meary Veg.

The strategy was then further developed by undertaking feasibility studies for the various schemes and this resulted in the IRIS Regional Sewage Strategy Business Case report being approved by Tynwald in July 2009, which demonstrated a further ?10m saving as a result of moving to a Regional Sewage Treatment Strategy.

Mr Crookall added, “Mr Gimbert and the Peel Action Group are concerned that there are errors and omissions within the budget costings within the reports and claim that, as a result, the Regional Sewage Treatment Strategy for Peel and St Johns is undermined.

“They propose that the most cost-effective solution for the West is to transfer sewage flows through to Meary Veg for treatment; however, at no stage have they provided any detailed figures to support this claim.

“The authority, and therefore the taxpayer, is incurring significant additional cost in answering the queries and substantiating the costs contained within the reports, and believes that the best solution would be to explain the basis of the costings at a meeting with the Commissioners and the Peel Action Group at a more appropriate time.’

The authority maintains the view that the most cost-effective solution for the West is as outlined in the Business Case report, namely the treatment of sewage from the Peel and St Johns catchments in Peel.

As outlined previously by the former Minister for Transport, David Anderson MHK, the offer remains open for the Commissioners to reconsider their objection to this proposal and to accept that the environmental studies will determine whether a proposed site in Peel is suitable for use as a sewage treatment works.