ENNISCORTHY WASTEWATER TREATMENT WAS NOT UP TO EUROPEAN STANDARDS
A REPORT compiled by the Environmental Protection Agency has marked Enniscorthy as one of 39 large urban areas where wastewater treatment in 2018 was not up to European standards.
The report was based on an assessment of information provided to the EPA by Irish Water and on findings from the EPA’s enforcement activities.
According to the report there are deficiencies in many treatment plants and public sewers due to a legacy of underinvestment and as a consequence waste water from many areas is released without adequate treatment.
The EPA also said that substantial investment over a number of years will be required to bring treatment at all these areas up to the required standards.
However, the opening earlier this year of a new €16.3m wastewater treatment plant in Enniscorthy has, according to a separate Irish Water report, brought ‘significant environmental and economic benefits to the area’.
In its report the body said: ‘Enniscorthy is one of the larger towns around Ireland where there was inadequate treatment of wastewater being discharged into waterways.’
The Irish Water report also said the upgrade works ‘ensures that wastewater is fully treated and is compliant with all licence requirements and environmental regulations before being discharged into the River Slaney’. The upgrade work also provides additional capacity at the plant and allows for future population growth in the Enniscorthy area.
According to the EPA report 42 per cent of waste water from Ireland’s large urban areas was treated at plants that complied with required standards.
The new wastewater treatment plant in Enniscorthy opened in July.
At the opening of the plant Infrastructure Programme Manager, Paul Fallon, said: ‘It is a very important project for us to have completed in terms of protecting the environmental quality of the river Slaney.
‘The main driver for this project was compliance with the urban wastewater treatment directive and the EPA discharge license.’