This article is from page 4 of the 2012-10-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
THE number of Clare homes that have registered their septic tanks has doubled over the past week as the deadline for the reduced € 5 registration charged passed on Friday.
According to figures obtained from the Local Government Management Agency yesterday, a total of 7,603 septic tanks have now been registered in Clare. This is an increase of more than 100 per cent, 3,534 of which had been registered in the county on the same day last week.
In addition to the 7,603 online registrations, the Local Government Management Agency found that there are an estimated 70,000 registration forms which have been processed at local authority offices around the country and have yet to be added to the current figure.
When processed, these registrations could bump up the numbers signed in Clare by more than 2,000 and bring overall registration close to the 10,000 mark.
It is still unclear exactly how many septic tanks currently exist in Clare. Last year, the former Director of Services, David Timlin, put the number at close to 19,000. However, more recent research has estimated that there could be as many as 31,000 septic tanks in the county, with 11,700 in the River Fergus catchment area, 8,400 in the West and North Clare area, 7,600 in the Lough Derg area and 3,400 in South Clare.
The registration fee for the septic tanks had been set at € 5 by the Minister for Environment, Phil Hogan (FG), until last Friday, September 28. Anyone who wises to register their septic tank from now on will have to pay € 50 and homeowners could also face a fine of € 5,000 if they fail to register their tank before February 1, 2013.
Clare currently has one of the highest registration rates in the country with only Wexford, Galway, Meath and Mayo reporting more registered septic tanks.