Paying charges for non-existent sewerage plant stinks, says town

BUSINESSES are being forced to pay water-out charges in a West Cork town that was promised a sewerage treatment plant in 1999, which isn’t likely to see it materialise until 2010.

Under recently-introduced EU legislation, business premises are levied charges for the amount of waste water they produce. These charges are supposed to be used to provide sanitary systems.

Businesses in Castletownbere are forking out money, however, while watching millions of gallons of raw sewerage spill into the harbour.