BY SARAH CANTY
BALLYDEHOB’S wastewater treatment plant is ‘little more than a septic tank’ and is polluting Roaringwater Bay, threatening marine life, a West Cork TD has claimed.
Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns raised the issue of a long overdue upgrade of the Ballydehob Wastewater Treatment Plant with Heritage Minister Malcolm Noonan in the Dáil.
‘Ballydehob’s wastewater treatment plant is in urgent need of an upgrade. Despite the name, it’s little more than a basic septic tank and it’s just not fit for purpose,’ Deputy Cairns said.
The Turk Head deputy said it had caused a massive ongoing pollution problem in Ballydehob bay – part of a special area of conservation. ‘Its habitats are protected under EU law, and we have a diverse variety of marine life and seabird colonies which need to be protected,’ she said.
Deputy Cairns said the poor standard of the plant has resulted in ‘serious, observable pollution’ in the harbour and estuary and a ‘stench’ from the plant. ‘All of this occurs in one of the most beautiful areas around Ballydehob which is popular with locals and tourists,’ she noted.
Deputy Cairns said that as far back as 2009, Cork County Council and the EPA concurred that the existing septic tank wasn’t appropriate and that an upgrade was needed. The project was included in the water services investment programme at an estimated cost of €683,000 and works were to be completed by October 2012, but it never happened.
‘There is a massive shortfall in funding for water infrastructure, but there are no excuses for a 15-year delay on this project,’ she added.
Minister Noonan said he would ask Uisce Éireann to include the upgrade in their 2025-29 capital plan, but Deputy Cairns said public pressure must be kept up to ensure the upgrade finally goes ahead, pointing out that wastewater is a problem across her constituency.
‘In Shannonvale, near Clonakilty, there have been issues for years with a septic tank overflowing into a green space in the middle of the village. The heart of the village is now, essentially, closed off as a result,’ she said.
‘There are housing developments in Clonakilty, Kinsale, Dunmanway and the entire Beara peninsula which have been stalled because of a lack of sufficient water infrastructure.’
Deputy Cairns’ attention was drawn to the issue by a substantiated report compiled by local resident and waterways historian Cormac Levis, which details the long history of the plant and its effects.
According to the report, at the lagoon adjacent to the community park and playground, scum can regularly be seen floating on its surface. ‘Grey, filthy, foul-smelling water, and often even faeces and toilet paper, can be seen pouring out of the stormwater overflow directly into the lagoon, even in dry weather,’ the report states.
Speaking to the Southern Star, Mr Levis referred to condition 5 of Uisce Éireann’s discharge licence that required an upgrade by 2019 to comply with emission levels. ‘In spite of the fact that the EPA has called on Uisce Éireann to upgrade the plant every year since the licence was granted in 2014, nothing was done,’ she said.
‘In the meantime, the plant has failed emission level values for a number of parameters every year for the last ten years, causing serious pollution around the quay and in the estuary, right up to the back gardens of dwellings on the east end of the village,’ he claimed.
According to Levis, the EPA has stopped short of taking legal action against Uisce Éireann, leaving the people of Ballydehob no option but to explore the legal route themselves.
To that end, he says that solicitors for Friends of the Irish Environment have agreed to issue Uisce Éireann with a legal warning in relation to the plant.
‘It is absolutely appalling that ordinary citizens have to do the work of the State as regards compliance enforcement in issues like this.’
Deputy Cairns said the Community Council had set up a petition calling for the upgrade of the site, that is available to sign at the post office and most businesses in the village, where a copy of the report is also available. ‘I would encourage everyone to sign it,’ she said.
