Harbour’s 12-year wait for water treatment

Householders living around Cork Harbour — the country’s pharmaceutical heartland — have been waiting 12 years for water treatment facilities to bring their drinking water up to EU and national standards.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), householders in Ringaskiddy, Crosshaven and Carrigaline were informed in 2000 they required improved secondary water treatment.

Twelve years later they are still waiting. It is expected it will be a further two years before the upgrade is completed. Areas in Co Cork in urgent need of secondary water treatment include Youghal, Cobh and Skibbereen.

Lusk in Fingal, Co Dublin, Bray in Co Wicklow, Clifden in Co Galway, Moville and Killybegs in Co Donegal and Arklow in Co Wicklow were also highlighted in the EPA study, which showed nearly half of the drinking water in towns and cities is not meeting national and EU standards.

In Clifden, the existing water treatment plant is so outdated that bathing water has been affected.

Local authorities in Greater Dublin, Cork City, Dundalk, and Kilkenny City and its surroundings have also been warned they need to urgently curb the amount of nutrients, such as phosphorus and nitrogen, entering the water system. Excessive levels of both pose a risk to human health and plant and fish life.

The director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement, Dara Lynott, said: “Meeting our EU targets will require substantial and sustained investment. However, the benefits of such investment extend beyond water quality, as clean water is a pre-requisite for our tourism, food, agriculture and manufacturing industries.”

The figures come in the midst of the row between rural dwellers and Phil Hogan, the environment minister, over who should fund the cost of septic tanks if householders are told their system is substandard.

A spokesman for Cork County Council said last night there has been huge investment in water services nationally in recent years and that facilities have been developed in Kinsale and Skibbereen, with plans in place to develop treatment facilities at Youghal.

He said: “Passage West, Monkstown, Ringaskiddy, Crosshaven and Carrigaline all form part of the €70m Lower Harbour Sewerage Scheme. The Council are about to appoint engineering consultants to undertake the detailed design of the scheme. Public consultation in relation to the proposed establishment of a National Water Authority is currently under way and, if current proposals are adopted, the procurement of water services infrastructure will form part of that body’s remit.”