65% SEPTIC TANK FAIL RATE

SIXTY-FIVE per cent of inspections carried out on sewage-treatment systems in Kerry last year resulted in a failed test, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has revealed in a new report.

This means that Kerry had the sixth-worst fail rate of 29 local authorities included in the EPA’s 2019 Domestic Waste Water Treatment Systems Inspections and Enforcement report, released in recent days.

This fail rate also compares unfavourably to Kerry’s record in the most recent survey of this kind carried out by the EPA – for the period 2017to-2018 – which saw the county fail 52 per cent of its sewage-treatment inspections.

A total of 52 inspections were carried out in Kerry during 2019, the report outlined, with 34 of those tests resulting in a failed inspection.

This was the fifth-highest number of failed inspections amongst the local authorities surveyed.

While Kerry, at 82 per cent, has had one of the best records in terms of fixing wastewater treatment-system issues between 2013 and 2019, the report did not specify how many of the 34 failed inspections in 2019 have since been resolved.

The EPA, in response to queries by The Kerryman, said this was a matter for Kerry County Council to answer. This newspaper has forwarded those same queries to the local authority, also asking for examples of the most serious issues these 34 tests uncovered; how many of the 34 issues have been resolved; and an outline of the most serious unresolved issues.

At the time of going to print, The Kerryman had not re