Rearguard action on septic tank issue

It is hardly necessary for me to point out that we do not plan well in Ireland: as a nation — we are generally not pro-active and the septic tank issue is just another instance of us fighting, yet again, a rearguard action.

I would safely bet that the minister does not know how many tonnes of BOD and solids septic tank users dispose of annually (10 tonnes/day BOD or 100 tonnes per day BOD or some other value). How many septic tanks are working and how many are not? Yet he plans to tackle a problem that he may not have.

Your readers may be surprised to learn that water pollution legislation is in place here since 1977.

We don’t consistently enforce the wastewater regulations and we hear very little by way of prosecutions for pollution.

In order to plan well we must collect the relevant scientific data, analyse it and design a solution accordingly. I can cite one instance where we, the taxpayer, paid out almost €900,000 plus a lot of resources from the local community) to build a water treatment plant for a group water scheme in Clare which today is idle and rusting away. The plant design was wrong and, as was entirely predictable, failed to deal with the raw water due to the use of inadequate data sets.

I would plead with the minister to stop right now and plan a rational and science-based response to pollution threats rather than the knee jerk reaction he proposes.

We need to know how many tonnes of BOD are being treated and or discharged to the environment by each relevant sector annually and plan accordingly.

We need also to have a policy in relation to grey water discharged from houses, what is permitted to be discharged to percolation fields and septic tanks and what is not, and we must then train the householder on how to manage the treatment unit.

Martin Knox PhD FICI

Ballynacally

Co. Clare