Irish Water launch probe into unlicensed dumping of effluent into Mitcheltown sewerage system
IT has emerged that Irish Water has launched an investigation to find out who is responsible for the unlicensed pumping of what are believed to be significant amounts of industrial effluent into Mitchelstown’s sewerage system.
Speaking at the November meeting of the county council’s northern area meeting, county engineer Kevin Morey said that when Irish Water officials had compared the population served with the influx into the system they had noticed what he said was a “strong discrepancy” between the two.
He said the indication was that there was a lot of unlicensed input into the scheme that was putting immense pressure on the local treatment plants ability to cope with demand.
“Any scheme will have some unknowns. However, in Mitchelstown there seems to be cause for further investigation. Irish Water currently have a team on site looking into this,” he said.
“If addressed, this would probably have a significant impact on the plant in terms of improving its capacity,” said Mr Morey.
Cllr June Murphy asked if councillors would be able to see the findings of the Irish Water investigation.
“This is quite a serious matter. Have we any idea if it is industries, households or both involved? Will we see the results of the investigation and can we expect court proceedings as a result,” she enquired.
Mr Moray said that while he was “a little bit cautious” about mentioning specifics it was his understanding that Irish Water was investigating discharges into the system of an industrial nature.
He said that while there was potential for Irish Water to take legal action their normal mode of operations was to identify those responsible and reach an agreement to put changes in place without having to pursue the matter through the courts system.
“I am certainly not aware of Irish Water having made any prosecutions for this kind of thing,” he said.
Local councillors said the matter needed to be addressed urgently as the existing treatment plant had been struggling to meet increased demand for some time.
Cllr Deirdre O’Brien (FF) said that as a result a number of ‘shovel ready’ projects had been put on hold.
Cllr Kay Dawson (FG) said that regardless of the outcome of the Irish Water investigation Mitchelstown badly needed a new treatment plant, while Cllr Frank O’Flynn (FF) said the future financial viability of the town depended on it.
Mr Morey said that Irish Water was conscious of new local developments in the pipeline and that a project to upgrade the Mitchelstown system had been bundled with five others around the county.
He said that site investigations works in Mitchelstown had been mostly completed, the compulsory purchase order process for land was being undertaken and a detailed design for the project was being drawn up.