Plan to upgrade Ballycommon plant
A commitment by Uisce Éireann to upgrade the wastewater treatment plant in the village of Ballycommon, following complains of raw sewage discharges into the Nenagh River, has been welcomed by Nenagh councillor Séamie Morris.
Locals say the problem continues to persist despite revelations in this newspaper last month of ongoing discharges entering the prime angling waterway, a problem that has since become the focus of national media attention.
Since the issue was highlighted in a front page lead story in The Nenagh Guardian on our issue of March 11, locals subsequently contacted the newspaper to say that further discharges of sewage from the treatment plant were “pouring” into the river via an outlet pipe from the plant on Tuesday, March 21. One said the problem continued into this week, claiming “two gallons a minute” of sewage were entering the river from an outlet pipe connected to the plant.
Cllr Morris, who has been leading the campaign to upgrade the wastewater plant, says constant representations he has made to Uisce Éireann is now resulting in extra clean-outs of the plant and a commitment by the company to ultimately upgrade it.
He revealed that a complaint had been submitted on the issue to the Environment Protection Agency, which, he anticipated, would put extra pressure on Uisce Éireann to take further action to resolve to problem.
“I will also be working with our planners and Uisce Éireann to get a timeframe for the upgrade so that the developments that are being held up can get the go ahead,” said Cllr Morris.
He said the commencement on construction of new housing planned in Ballycommon was stalled as a result of the problems with the wastewater plant.
He felt Tipperary County Council should negotiate a pathway to resolve “this mess” so as to enable the planned developments to proceed and resolve the “environmental disaster”.
In response Cllr Morris’ representations, Uisce Éireann informed him on March 24 last that it had received an update from its Operations and Maintenance Department on the plant.
“Uisce Éireann is committed to continuously maintaining, upgrading and developing critical water and wastewater infrastructure to support the growth needed in housing and across our economy, while protecting the environment and safeguarding water supplies,” it stated.
It said the Ballycommon plant was privately developed and had been taken in charge by Uisce Éireann in 2021.
“Since then we have carried out regular maintenance works at the plant to improve it’s performance. This includes regular desludging and removal of material from site to prevent overflows to the river.
“We have also committed to carry out further upgrades at the plant and have engaged with the original suppliers of the system with a view to optimising its performance. Further site visits and inspections are currently being scheduled to confirm the scope of the works.”
SLUDGE TANKERED AWAY
Uisce Éireann added: “Currently two tankers of effluent/sludge is being tankered away from the site weekly. This is going to be increased to three tankers per week for a trial period.
“Uisce Éireann are currently in the process of engaging the Proprietary Treatment Manufacturers to come to the site and assess the operation of the wasteswater treatment plant with a view to optimising the treatment process.”
Uisce Éireann confirmed that it received a complaint from Inland Fisheries Ireland in relation to the quality of the effluent discharge from the Ballycommon plant as far back as July last year.
It said that based on the original design capacity of the plant, it would be able to cater for sewage from between 10 to 20 additional house connections “if the plant was performing as designed”.
However, it added: “Due to issues with influent septicity and capital maintenance requirements at the works the plant is not currently achieving the design discharge standards and is discharging poor quality effluent to the Nenagh River.”
SITE INSPECTION
Uisce Éireann informed Cllr Morris that it undertook a site inspection and assessment of the Carrig Derg wastewater pumping station and Ballycommon wastewater treatment plant on June 28 last year.
“The conclusion from that site inspection was that the load on the Ballycommon Wastewater Treatment Plant does not exceed the design capacity but the works require additional works in relation to flow management at the plant and some capital maintenance upgrades to improve the performance of the works and the effluent quality discharged before any additional flows can be accepted.”
Uisce Éireann said further site visits and inspections were currently being scheduled to confirm the scope of the works required to resolve the influent septicity issues and capital maintenance works required to restore the original design capacity of the plant.
It added: “As the scope of these works has not yet been fully determined the timeline for the design, procurement and installation of the required works is not confirmed at this time.”