Time to deliver on sewage treatment in villages
Lack of proper wastewater treatment facilities in several villages surrounding Nenagh is hampering new house building in a time of an accommodation crisis and suffocating the growth of places like Cloughjordan and Ballycommon, local representatives have warned.
The problem got a good airing at last Thursday’s meeting of the Nenagh Municipal District, where Cllr Joe Hannigan welcomed the news that Tipperary County Council had granted planning permission to Uisce Éireann to upgrade the wastewater treatment plant in Nenagh.
But Cllr Hannigan said several villages, including Cloughjordan, Silvermines, Ballycommon and the town of Borrisokane were all suffering due to inadequate wastewater treatment provision.
Cllr Hannigan said the impact of poor sewage treatment infrastructure would be felt especially in these areas over the coming years, unless Uisce Éireann moved to upgrade their wastewater treatment infrastructure.
“What can we as a local authority do to deal with Ballycommon, Silvermines, Cloughjordan and Borrisokane - places that we have been jumping up and down about for the last number of years looking for upgrade of their plants?” asked Cllr Hannigan.
Badly-needed development in these areas was being held back due to lack of sewage treatment infrastructure, he said.
Cllr Hannigan pointed out that there were plans ready to go ahead with building 35 new houses in Ballycommon. Such was the delay in providing proper sewage treatment that ten of these houses only had a year left before their five-year grant of planning permission ran out.
He said Ballycommon had no functioning wastewater treatment plant and the sewage from the village was being transported daily away to another treatment plant.
Cllr Séamie Morris said the council should make representations to local TDs, urging them to try to persuade the government to shelve the multi-million euro water pipe project from the Shannon to Dublin.
The huge saving from such a decision could then be used to provide badly needed wastewater treatment plants in towns and villages throughout the country.
Cllr Morris said that currently there was no further capacity in the wastewater treatment plants in Portroe, Silvermines and Cloughjordan - where, he said, the local Fianna Fáil TD Ryan O’ Meara resided.
MEETING ON BALLYCOMMON
Council planner, Jonathan Flood, said the local authority had made Uisce Éireann well aware of its concerns in relation to the lack of sewage treatment provision in the villages mentioned. The council was currently seeking a meeting with the utility in the hope of getting a breakthrough on Ballycommon.
Another council planner, Fergal O’ Donnell, said the executive shared the frustrations of elected members in relation to the problems they outlined.
The council had made submissions to Uisce Éireann, which had devised a programme for provision of wastewater treatment plants for villages. A number of the villages referred to by councillors were on the priority list of the water utility for some time. “All we can do is keep banging the drum as much as we can.”
Cllr John Carroll said he would try to ascertain whether it was the Government or Uisce Éireann that was to blame for the lack of funding and delivery of updated wastewater treatment plants in small settlements.
Welcoming the decision to grant permission for the upgrade of the Nenagh wastewater treatment plant, Cllr Morris said he was glad to see that the increase in heavy goods vehicles needed to carry out the works would not be allowed to travel to the plant via the Bulfin Crescent estate.
This would have been a major inconvenience for residents and other road users. He suggested that the council allow Uisce Éireann to develop a route to the existing treatment plant via the Lisboney Industrial Estate while the upgrade works were in progress.