38 failing sewage treatment locations are named
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the list of 38 locations where it said standards regarding the treatment of waste water were not being met – 10 are in Co Cork, including Cork City, Cobh, Clonakilty and Youghal.
The treatment plant in Ringsend, which serves Dublin City, is also not meeting its targets, while two plants in Galway – at Clifden and Loughrea – are also listed.
It is not just coastal counties that feature on the list, with plants in North Tipperary, Roscommon, Laois, Monaghan, Cavan and Kilkenny also named, as well as locations in Clare, Donegal, Leitrim, Limerick, Louth, Meath, Sligo and Wicklow.
The quality failures identified include Killybegs in Co Donegal and Youghal and the Lower Cork Harbour, where the EPA said sewage is “receiving no effective treatment”.
According to the report: n Nine large urban areas did not meet the directive requirement to provide secondary treatment; n Eight large urban areas did not meet the directive requirement to provide infrastructure to reduce nutrients and did not meet nutrient quality standards;
- 44 areas had no waste water treatment and are discharging raw sewage;
- Half of 350 infrastructural improvements required in EPA licences before the end of last year were not completed.
“Waste water discharges contributed to poor bathing water quality status at four designated bathing waters in 2013 including Clifden and Galway City,” the report said.
“Four additional designated bathing waters are at risk from waste water discharges including Youghal and Ardmore.”
In addition, there were six seriously polluted river sites where pollution is caused by urban waste water discharges, and 49 waste water works linked with river pollution.
The report, entitled Focus on Urban Waste Water Treatment in 2013, can be viewed at www.epa.ie.
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