€900,000 water treatment plant idle for two years

A NEW €900,000 purpose-built water treatment plant located in Clare is lying idle for over two years — after a rural group water scheme reverted back to its old system.

The new treatment plant for the Killone Group Water Scheme (KGWS), just south of Ennis, was shut down on April 28, 2009 due to the production of non-compliant treated water.

The closure reportedly followed the dramatic deterioration in the quality of the raw water source from nearby Killone Lake.

Environment Minister Phil Hogan has been requested by Cllr Johnny Flynn to appoint an independent arbitrator to examine the difficulties with the new plant and a number of unresolved issues affecting the scheme involving KGWS and other parties.

The main contractor EPS Mallow said it fully complied with all the contract requirements. It said the shutdown had nothing to do with the design, suitability or capacity of the plant to deal with the water supply as contracted, but exclusively related to significant deterioration of the quality of the source supply through a proliferation of algal bloom.

EPS have constructed up to one thousand group water schemes since 1972. The Ennis project was the first it had been instructed to shut down.