Delays in Mitchelstown WWT plans
Uisce Éireann have confirmed that plans for the Mitchelstown Wastewater Treatment Plant have not progressed despite a report to the EPA five/ six months ago saying that the first stage of the project, the ‘Strategic Assessment’, would be finished in 2023.
This report was provided to the EPA on 1st December last year and in it, Uisce Éireann said that in 2024 stage two of the project would begin the ‘Preliminary Business Case’. In December last year, it was predicted that this stage two would be completed by late 2025.
“Due to the nature of the project, land acquisition, planning approvals and other legal consents may be required. Stage two is scheduled to be completed in late 2025, following which UÉ will be in a position to provide construction timelines”.
However, as the work on this Preliminary Business Case has not yet started as we now enter May, it seems probable that this 2025 date will be pushed out too.
OUTFALL POINT
However, in positive news, Uisce Éireann did confirm that they had now located the outfall point on the Gradogue River of one of the storm water overflows from the plant, which was previously unknown.
The EPA have previously pointed out that the plant is a significant pressure on both the Gradogue and Funshion waterbodies; while the effluent discharges into the Funshion, the storm water overflows discharge into the Gradogue. However, these EPA comments were made in June, before upgrades were completed on the plant later that year in December. On December 1st, Uisce Éireann said that there has been an improvement at the plant in terms of compliance.