Irish Water pledges wastewater clean-up within three years

The country’s wastewater treatment infrastructure will be fully in place and contaminated sites cleaned up within the next three years, according to Irish Water.

Seán Laffey, the head of asset management with the state utility, said it is committed to having all of the contaminated sites treated by the end of 2021.

This follows a finding by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that the pace of improvements to Ireland’s wastewater treatment infrastructure is falling far short of requirements.

It has initiated seven prosecutions against Irish Water over sewage discharges over the past 10 months. Irish Water was fined €13,600 for discharge of untreated sewage from a pump station in Cork City that caused a fish kill, and €9,700 for a similar discharge in Balbriggan-Skerries, Co Dublin. It was fined over €30,000 for failing to carry out upgrades to treatment plants in Athenry, Co Galway; Boherbue, Co Cork; and Drumcollogher, Co Limerick.

In a statement, Irish Water said the EPA report showed the size and scale of the challenge faced by the company in meeting the demands of decades of under-investment in wastewater infrastructure. “This is a key element of the infrastructure challenge that Irish Water, in 2015, estimated would cost €13bn and require large scale investment over several investment cycles,” said Irish Water.

In its 2016 Urban Waste Water Treatment Report, the EPA said sewage treatment at 50 of Ireland’s 185 largest towns and cities is failing to prevent pollution and protect public health.

It comes 26 years after EU standards were set and 12 years after the deadline for complying with them.

Irish Water has estimated that it will cost up to €13bn to implement the necessary changes. Mr Laffey said the utility is quite confident of meeting that deadline and takes full responsibility for failures highlighted in the EPA report.

However, he pointed out that historically there has been a lack of investment in wastewater treatment and that a programme of wastewater treatment is now under way.

Mr Laffey said concrete results on the ground will be delivered over the next number of years and that a projected average of €326m a year will be spent on wastewater between now and 2021.

“The EPA report correctly reflects the size and scale of the challenge facing Irish Water as we work to meet the needs of homes and businesses around the country and facilitate future growth,” said Mr Laffey.

The scale of the problem was laid bare yet again months after the European Commission warned it was taking Ireland to court over the practice of discharging untreated sewage and leaving the country potentially liable for millions of euro in anti-pollution fines.

That case relates to missed deadlines for sewage plants to be built or upgraded by the end of 2000 and 2005.

But in its latest report on waste water standards for last year, the EPA said five towns are hoping to see work on new sewage treatment plants finish this year — Youghal, Belmullet, Rush, Bundoran, and Killybegs.

But David Shannon, an EPA inspector, said: “There’s not enough money being invested in waste water treatment. We are spending €100 million less per annum than we were a decade ago. We have this legacy of under-investment. We need to see more money going in.”