2022 EPA assessment due on River Funshion in Kilbehenny
A new status update from the Environmental Protection Association (EPA) on the River Funshion as it runs through Kilbehenny is due later in 2022, 13 years after the last report. The 2011 licence issued to the council for a very small wastewater treatment system in the village, that serves just three houses, was based on a 2009 sample.
The EPA confirmed that the current status is that the river in Kilbehenny is classified as having a ‘Good Ecological Status’. This, according to the EPA, means the river is meeting its water quality targets.
The EPA defines the part of the river serving Kilbehenny as the nine kilometre stretch of the River Funshion, with Kilbehenny roughly at the centre. The water is tested downstream, near Mitchelstown Golf Course.
The Limerick County Development Plan mistakenly states that the sewerage treatment plant has spare capacity. In November, the council confirmed to TheAvondhu that the development plan would be updated to show that there was no spare capacity - at the time of writing, it had not been updated. RESPONSIBILITY?
There is no treatment facility in Kilbehenny. A survey of septic tanks that was carried out to determine what was needed in the village was carried out by Limerick Council in late 2016/early 2017. The Avondhu has requested a copy of the results of this survey from the council.
The matter of water treatment in Kilbehenny would appear to have been tossed between Limerick City & County Council, Cork County Council and Irish Water for some years now. The village’s waste water treatment system, or lack thereof, has been brought up in local authority meetings in 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2021.
Both councils have stated, at various times, that the matter is an Irish Water issue. Irish Water, however, are not responsible for situations such as this one, where there is no existing infrastructure and never has been.
Despite this, the Northern Committee of Cork County Council voted in December to write to the water services company again, requesting information. Cork County Council have not confirmed if they received a response to this letter.