Residents in Cork housing estate 'at wits' end' as raw sewage spills into children's play area

Sewage spill in Castletownbere estate an environmental and health and safety hazard, councillor says

Councillors told lack of servicing of the sewage treatment plant at the Mariners View estate in Castletownbere had resulted in the plant regularly overflowing into an area where children from the estate regularly play. File picture: Dan Linehan

Residents in a Cork housing estate where raw sewage is spilling out into a children’s play area are “at their wits' end” trying to get the problem addressed, according to a local councillor.

Independent Finbarr Harrington asked for a suspension of standing orders at a recent meeting of Cork County Council’s West Cork Municipal District in order to discuss the matter.

Mr Harrington said the lack of servicing of the sewage treatment plant at the Mariners View estate in Castletownbere had resulted in the plant regularly overflowing into an area where children from the estate regularly play.

Mr Harrington said the estate, which comprises 40 houses and was built 20 years ago, had not yet been taken into charge by Cork County Council due to the issues with the treatment plant, which was leading to a “chicken and egg situation”.

He said: “The sewage treatment plant hasn’t been maintained or serviced or desludged for a number of years and what’s happening now is the sewage is spilling out over the top onto an area where there’s children playing.

“It’s a compete environmental hazard, it’s an ecological hazard, and it’s also a health and safety hazard for the children who play there and for the houses that live there. There is a genuine worry for the people that live there that the sewage now is going to back up the pipe into their homes.” 

Mr Harrington said there was also a chronic stench coming from the plant when he visited on a warm day recently, which was “just horrendous”. 

“The council desludged it a number of years ago when the council had charge of wastewater, but since  Uisce Éireann have taken over, they have done literally nothing with it. There’s red lights on all the panels, the doors are open, you can see through the fence, there’s sewage spilling everywhere.” 

Mr Harrington told the meeting that residents were at their “wits' end,” and had written to Uisce Éireann. “They have been doing everything they can and they can’t seem to get anywhere,” he said. 

He requested that the council write to Uisce Éireann and ask as “a matter of urgency that they get this thing back up and running, that they desludge it, and that they maintain it and look after it.” 

He said: “I would also be asking that our environmental section and the Environmental Protection Agency get notified and that they go down there and they witness first-hand what the people have to put up with.” 

He added: “If an ordinary person, a household, or a farm did this they would be prosecuted straight away, and rightly so. There was a glimmer of hope a few years ago when Castletown got a new sewerage treatment plant. 

"This particular unit was supposed to be connected to it but unfortunately there wasn’t enough money to connect it on to it.” 

It was agreed to send a letter to Uisce Éireann and to environmental section who would refer the matter to the Environmental Protection Agency if necessary.

This article is funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme