Sewage sludge pumped into Dublin Bay

UNTREATED sewage is being added to the clean water outflow of a new €300 million EU-funded treatment facility at Ringsend in Dublin.

Yesterday, Dublin City Council confirmed that diluted sewage sludge, said by local residents to be putrid smelling, is being discharged into Dublin bay.

In fact, as much as a quarter of the sludge arriving at the new plant in Ringsend is diluted with water, which has been cleaned by the plant, before being discharged.

“The remixing of some of the sludge into the treated wastewater before it leaves the plant is a temporary measure and above board. The final treated wastewater leaving the site meets the standard set out in the contract,” said Michael Phillips, Dublin City Council engineer.

“Water in the bay is cleaner now than at any time in the past and when the plant is fully commissioned in the next few weeks, this measure will no longer be needed.”

Additional odour control measures are also being put in place to control smells from the new works, Mr Phillips said.

Last night, the Green Party called on Dublin City Council “to explain immediately how it intends to deal with this fiasco”.

Green Party chairman and local Ringsend resident John Gormley TD wondered “why is Dublin City Council continuing to pump sewage sludge into the bay and why is the problem of odour nuisance not being dealt with properly?

“It now appears that the plant can’t cope properly with the amount of sewage it receives,” Deputy Gormley said.

“Despite assurances given by Dublin City council and ABA, the contractors, that the bad odour was a temporary phenomenon, I can confirm that up until yesterday it was still present.

“Local residents simply cannot tolerate a repeat of last summer when we had to keep our windows closed,” he said.

The plant was presented as a hi-tech facility and was endorsed by the Green Party.