"Unfit for purpose"; Local anger at proposed changes to Tipperary water treatment plant

Cllr Seamus Morris has issued a statement regarding the Ballycommon water treatment plant.

In his statement, he expressed his distaste for the granting of a wastewater certificate to the plant.

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He said: "I would like to strongly object to the granting of a wastewater certificate of authorisation for the Ballycommon Plant A0572 sought by Uisce Eireann. The plant, which is unfit for the purpose, has been polluting illegally without authorisation for the discharge pipe of the Nenagh River since the plant started.

"The Nenagh River is the largest tributary of Lough Derg and is a major Trout fishery and salmonid river. Although it is not a Salmon fishery, a large number of Salmon Spawn in the upper reaches of the river , and at a time when Salmon are a threatened and protected species, the Salmon in this river are vitally important. They are entitled to good water quality, which is essential to them, rather than water polluted by raw sewage, when they come back to spawn, in their native river, after surviving all the hazards of one or two years at sea.

"Recently, the Nenagh River has been downgraded as in bad condition” by the EPA and doesn't need any more pollutants being dumped into it from an unfit WWTP. Uisce Eireann have unsuccessfully tried everything to fix the plant, including downgrading the capacity to 350 persons from 550 persons. This and several interventions by Uisce Eireann have failed so much so that the plant is being cleaned out by tanker a few times a day every day of the week for 2 years now. The WWTP in Ballycommon should not be called a “treatment plant” because it offers no treatment for the effluent, other than aeration. It is merely a large receptacle into which the effluent is fed, and despite what tinkering is done with the tank, it cannot treat the effluent.

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"It must be noted also that the dilly-dallying by Uisce Eireann by not replacing the plant is holding up badly needed, ready-to-go housing schemes as the plant will need to be replaced anyway due to it being unfit for purpose.

"This plant CANNOT be fixed; it needs to be REPLACED, so I object strongly to this application for a discharge pipe for the current plant," Cllr Morris concluded.