This article is from page 14 of the 2012-10-16 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
THE Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government have been accused of hypocrisy as it calls on rural dwellers to register their septic tanks, while overseeing what has been described as “one of the biggest polluters in West Clare”.
Raw sewerage is pumped daily into the Shannon Estuary from the holding tanks at Skagh Point, despite a € 12.5 million Wastewater Secondary Treatment Plant being promised for the towns of Kilrush and Kilkee more than seven years ago.
It is now unlikely that the much needed scheme for the West Clare towns will come to fruition as the towns’ manager, Anne Haugh, said the county council’s hands are tied when it comes to raising the funds.
She explained that the council has been told it must raise € 2.7 million for the project, yet the Department of the Environment will not approve loans for any new projects.
Sean Ward, Senior Engineer with Clare County Council’s Water Serv- ices, said the Department of the Environment has approved a “procurement and construction budget of € 8.042 million for the two waste water plants, one third of which will have to be funded by the local authority.
“However, the council cannot begin this process until the EPA issues a wastewater discharge licence and the scheme is included in the 2014 WSIP (government) list.
“The only thing that would move the scheme from ‘scheme at planning’ status to ‘contracted to start construction’ status ahead of 2014 would be if the EPA issues a discharge licence with a very tight deadline to have the treatment plant completed,” said Mr Ward.
He is not very confident that the licence the council applied for in 2008 will be issued anytime soon.
The father of Kilrush Town Council, Cllr Tom Prendeville (FF) said he believed it was hypocritical of the department to threaten people in rural Ireland who have septic tanks, yet allow the incident at the estuary continue.
“The spin doctors from the department have been at pains to point out the need for septic tank owners to register and carry out regular inspections and servicing operations to ensure that our ground waters are not contaminated with the resultant threat to the environment and to jobs,” he said.
“Yet some might find these utterances hypocritical when one realises that the long promised wastewater treatment programme for Kilrush and Kilkee more than seven years ago is still being considered by the department.
“Some people might be discomforted to hear that raw sewage is being pumped out daily in the Shannon Estuary from the holding tanks at Skagh Point. This anti-environment act gives credence to the sceptics who charge the local authority with being polluters in West Clare,” he warned.
The former mayor of Kilrush called on the Oireachtais members to bring the matter to the Dáil and the MEPs “at EU level where the € 12.5 million funding has been secured”.