At the wastewater treatment plant pumping station in Ennistymon, Co Clare, raw sewage is being pumped out into the River Inagh on a regular basis.
That’s according to Councillor Liam Grant who is calling on Irish Water to urgently implement a new wastewater treatment plant for Lahinch and Ennistymon.
“This happens because during periods of heavy rain, the wastewater and the rainwater are being mixed together and the pumping station can’t handle this so it’s just pumping raw storage into the river, which makes its way down to Lahinch Beach.
There’s actually evidence of the last overflow event, which has human excrement everywhere. Everything that goes down your toilet is ending up in the river here and making its way to Lahinch Beach,” Cllr Grant said.
“Downriver at Lahinch, the story is much the same. Every time there’s heavy rainfall, the wastewater and the rainwater mixes together, the wastewater treatment plant can’t handle it, and raw sewage is expelled into the river. The Lahinch wastewater treatment plant was also built on a floodplain, so every time there’s big tides and heavy rain, the treatment plant actually ends up underwater for a period of time. So raw sewerage, from both Lahinch and Ennistymon, is making its way to Lahinch Beach via the Inagh River on a regular basis.
Every summer for the last couple of years, bathing restrictions have been imposed at Lahinch Beach. Irish Water and the council might have you thinking this is just because of runoff from the land when our own wastewater treatment plants are expelling massive amounts of raw sewage during heavy rainfall.
Last year, multiple housing developments were refused planning due to our inadequate sewage treatment. So not only is our wastewater infrastructure poisoning our waters, they are also a huge part of the housing crisis. Unfortunately, this problem is a common one, and it’s happening all over the county and country.
Just 51% of Ireland’s sewage is being treated to EU standards, while the European average for compliance is 90%. If we want clean water, we can just stand up and fight for it. And seven years ago, Roisin Garvey and several others did just that. Roisin put together a video highlighting the awful raw sewerage situation in Liscannor and how it was affecting surfers health. Seven years later, after much campaigning, we now have a new wastewater treatment plant in Liscannor.
The new plants will become operational in Spring 2023, massively reducing the amount of raw sewerage entering the bay. We now want the same for Lahinch and Ennistymon and many of the other coastal villages. We are going to have to kick up a fuss with Irish water to do just that. And we want to encourage people to come. But I’ll be a lot happier telling those people it’s a safe place to swim, it’s a safe place to surf. And that’s what we want. We want clean water,” Cllr Grant added.
