Plant will end sewage discharge in Cork harbour

A new wastewater treatment plant will end the discharge of the equivalent of almost 20,000 wheelie bins of raw sewage into Cork Harbour within weeks.

The huge facility at Shanbally, which is being built as part of the €135m Cork Lower Harbour Main Drainage Project, will begin treating waste from homes and businesses in the Carrigaline and Crosshaven areas when its first phase comes on-line around the middle of next month.

The facility, which has capacity to treat 12m litres of wastewater daily once fully operational, will result in immediate benefits to the water quality in the harbour, which has been branded one of the country’s worst offending pollution blackspots.