Investigation following discharge from wastewater treatment plant in West Cork

The discharge from the wastewater treatment plant went into the river Bandon. File picture: Larry Cummins

An investigation has been launched following a discharge from a wastewater treatment plant in West Cork into the river Bandon.

But Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), the State’s environment agency responsible for protecting, managing and conserving the country’s rivers, said there is no evidence at this time that a fish kill occurred arising out of the incident near Dunmanway.

The discharge from the Dunmanway treatment plant was spotted on July 17, with black sludgy material seen entering the river from a pipe linked to the plant. The plant is located upstream of qualifying species within the Bandon River Special Area of Conservation.

The discharge incident was reported to IFI the following day. In a statement, IFI said water samples were taken and sent for laboratory analysis.

“Discharges of deleterious or polluting matter or liquid to waterways is an offence under the Fisheries and Local Water Pollution Acts and IFI investigates all such discharges,” a spokesman said. “IFI awaits analysis of the water samples, and the matter will be considered from there.”

Uisce Éireann said it investigated the incident and has established that it was related to airflow to the plant's process units and remedial works are now underway.

"Uisce Éireann is engaging with Inland Fisheries Ireland and the Environmental Protection Agency in relation to this and we will provide further updates as they become available," it said.

The Dunmanway plant, which was built a decade ago, already has limited capacity and is listed by Uisce Éireann as an ‘amber’ capacity facility — the next level beneath ‘red’, or no additional capacity.

Its lack of capacity is hampering growth and development in the town, with the County Development Plan 2022-2028 stating that new developments requiring a connection to the plant will not be permitted until infrastructural upgrades are in place.

River Allow

Meanwhile, IFI said it is awaiting the laboratory analysis report from samples it took from the River Allow in north Cork in June following a major fish kill on a pivotal Munster fishery.

Thousands of fish and eels were wiped out along a 4km stretch of the Allow, in north Cork, an important tributary of the Blackwater following a suspected chemical spill from an Uisce Eireann waste water treatment plant.

At least 5,000 fish, including salmon, trout, and lamprey were killed. The Allow also supports a population of the endangered and protected freshwater pearl mussel.

The pollution incident occurred in the Freemount catchment, north of Kanturk, in a Special Area of Conservation, in a noted spawning habitat for fish, and where millions in EU funding has been spent to try to restore water quality.

IFI said once it receives the lab results from those Allow samples, “it will advance the matter further”.