Onlooker kicks up a stink as raw slurry is dumped from quay

June 2001

Tourists and local people fled holding their noses when a tractor towing a trailer full of slurry dumped its load into the harbour from Wexford’s showpiece quays last Thursday evening.

‘While walking the new quayfront, I witnessed something I could not believe. A tractor drove up to the edge of the quay and poured a full slurry tank of waste into the river,’ said Wexford resident John Ryan.

He said the incident happened at 6.35 p.m. last Thursday as a large number of people were walking the quays, due to be officially opened by the Taoiseach on June 30.

‘ The happened as dozens of tourists walked by. The smell and look was stomach-churning,’ said Mr Ryan.

‘What a sight for our visitors and locals to see. Why do we spend thousands trying to attract tourists to the town if we are going to dump human waste in front of them, as they try to enjoy a stroll along the quay?

‘ This I might add was done with a Corporation worker looking on, leading me to believe with the sanction of the Corporation. If it has to be done, why not at 6 a.m., when there is no-one around?’

Town Clerk Don Curtin said that a contractor had been engaged to remove the slurry from Charlotte Street because of a blocked sewer leading to one of five outfalls into the harbour.

Adding that the slurry was dumped closed to where it would normally discharge, Mr Curtin did however promise that ‘it will not happen in that location again’.

‘ The timing had to do with the tides,’ added Mr. Curtin.

Mr Curtin said that while the sight of a tractor and trailer dumping slurry from the quays was unacceptable, he reality was that raw sewage had been piped into the harbour for more than 200 years.

The situation would not improve until a treatment plant, being built as part of the town’s main drainage scheme, came on stream in about two years’ time.