Householders and officials unable to find septic tanks

You have to have a nose for these things — but three householders in Cork were unable to find their septic tanks when council officials came a calling. The officials couldn’t locate them either.

Sharon Corcoran, Cork County Council’s head of environmental services, has said officials will have to return to these properties armed with some hi-tech equipment in an effort to find the so-far elusive tanks— if they exist.

“The householders said they didn’t know where the septic tanks were and our inspectors couldn’t find them either. We will have to go back with extra equipment and in the meantime look at (planning) maps etc to see if we can locate them,” Ms Corcoran said.

It might provide some temporary respite for these homeowners, as latest statistics released by the local authority show that 55% of households inspected last year had septic tanks which weren’t compliant with EU anti-pollution legislation.

In total, council officials inspected 132 septic tanks around the region, finding that 73 didn’t measure up and of those 26 were leaking and a potential source of pollution to drinking water.

Ms Corcoran said that 18 tanks had major deficiencies which could cost their owners a lot of money to rectify.

All but two of them require significant work to repair and may even need replacing.

The biggest problem was a lack of desludging, which was noticed at 48 properties.

Grants are available to repair problems with septic tanks, but they are means-tested and desludging doesn’t qualify for grant-aid as Ms Corcoran said it is considered routine maintenance.

She said that two applications for grant aid for repairs were received by the county council last year and they had been approved.

The local authority is concentrating on inspecting septic tanks which are near rivers, primarily because they could be a source of drinking water pollution.

It carried out inspections throughout the county, with the worst non-compliance at 59% being in the West Cork region.

The inspections are being carried out in line with new EU policy.

This is designed to ensure member states are cleaning up their act when it comes to the disposal of effluent.

A recent EU directive caused shockwaves amongst council members last month when it was revealed that all further building could be halted along the Blackwater Valley because effluent may be threatening the EU-protected freshwater pearl mussel.

Surveys are to be carried out shortly for the mussels and if they are found to exist in significant numbers in the Blackwater and its tributaries millions of euro may have to be spent upgrading sewerage treatment plants in the region before further development is allowed.