Setback for Lough Talt water treatment scheme
IT could be 2020 before the Lough Talt water scheme is fully compliant with the drinking water standards according to Irish Water.
The water utility has also expressed concern about the risk of contamination of the supply but says it doesn’t have planning to build an interim treatment plant.
However, in a response to Councillor Dara Mulvey, Irish Water outlined how it still planned to build an interim treatment plant despite a setback in its planning application to the Council and An Bord Pleanala.
Cllr Mulvey, Cllr Margaret Gormley and Cllr Jerry Lundy all brought the issue up at the Ballymote/Tubbercurry meeting.
In its letter to Cllr Mulvey, a spokesperson for Irish Water said: “Lough Talt, has been used as a source of raw drinking water for nearly 70 years and currently supplies a population of approximately 13,000 people including the town of Tubbercurry and a large rural hinterland including the villages of Annagh, Aclare, Curry, Charlestown, Lavagh, Ballanacarrow Carroweden, Kilmacteige and Coolaney.
“Lough Talt is the sole source of public drinking water supply to this area, where the nearest alternative potential large scale water resources are Lough Conn, 30 kilometres to the west and Lough Gill, 40 kilometres to the north of the existing water treatment plant.
“Irish Water and the EPA are not satisfied that the current level of treatment on the Lough Talt Water Supply is adequate, particularly with respect to a potential risk of Cryptosporidium contamination and compliance with the specified limits for Trihalomethanes (THMs).
“For that reason, the EPA has directed Irish Water to provide adequate treatment and it is part of the Irish Water short term Capital Programme.
“Given the risks to public health posed by the current treatment plant, Irish Water proposed to construct, as a matter of urgency, an interim water treatment plant downstream of Lough Talt, using the existing abstraction and we applied to Sligo County Council for planning permission for this plant, in 2015.
“Sligo County Council and subsequently An Bord Pleanála refused the application.
“The basis of refusal is that it cannot exclude the possibility that the development, in combination with the abstraction, would adversely affect the Lough Talt Special Area of Conservation (SAC).
“The decision by An Bord Pleanála does not mean that Irish Water must cease current abstraction from Lough Talt but we do not have the necessary planning approval to build the interim treatment plant as we had intended.
“Based on a review of the An Board Pleanála decision and the engagements with national & EU authorities.
“Irish Water recognises the need to address the statutory requirements to meet the ecological objectives (Lough Talt is a Special Area of Conservation, with vulnerable habitats and species) in conjunction with addressing the need for safe clean drinking water for the community in west Sligo.
“This will require that Irish Water examines how the public health & environmental risks can be balanced in this case.
“We are examining the possible alternatives and their timeframes, as well as what available environmental mitigation is possible at Lough Talt.
“When the necessary studies are completed (including detailed technical liaison with the relevant statutory agencies), Irish Water intends to re-apply for permission for an interim solution, to meet the drinking water standards with an appropriate programme of measures to manage the environmental impacts at Lough Talt.
“This application will recognise the over-riding public interest to meet the required drinking water standards combined with available mitigation of environmental impacts.
“We cannot give a definitive timeframe at this stage, pending the detailed studies, but we hope that we can make a revised planning application within 6-9 months.
“Allowing for the planning process, design, tendering and construction, it would be likely to take until 2020 to achieve full compliance with the drinking water standards.”