Sewage from Cork eco-homes leaking into protected waterway

Over capacity at communal septic tank endangers protected Pearl Mussel

Baile Glas was Ireland's first sustainable, social and affordable housing scheme in Lombardstown, Co. Cork. Pic: Denis Scannell

An eco-friendly housing estate has had its sewage pumped into a communal septic tank, which is now over capacity and said to be leaking into a river which is the subject of a special order protecting the highly endangered Freshwater Pearl Mussel.

The leader of Fine Gael on Cork County Council, Cllr John Paul O'Shea, said: “It is ironic that the Baile Glas Housing Estate in Lombardstown, Co. Cork, was built as an eco-friendly housing estate, yet its raw sewage continues to discharge into the River Blackwater.”