Fresh ‘uncertainty’ for Mayo town’s 2030 sewerage plant timeline

Raw sewage continues to flow into the water around the historic town of Newport 

This is despite Irish Water successfully halving the volume of raw sewage being discharged daily in Ireland since the start of 2024.

The importance of treating sewage to make it clean and safe before it is discharged into public water systems is described as “essential to protect the environment and public health” in a newly published report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The potential harm of untreated and poorly treated wastewater is that it “can contain harmful bacteria and viruses that can make people sick. It can pollute and damage aquatic ecosystems by depleting oxygen levels in water and releasing nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus that lead to excessive growth of algae and aquatic plants.”

As extensively reported over many years in The Mayo News, multiple generations of residents in Newport have raised the issue of raw sewage being discharged into the town’s river. 

Newport is one of 15 towns and villages in the country where “untreated sewage continues to enter the environment every day because the sewers serving these areas are not yet connected to treatment plants.”

Its population is part of the 20,000 people affected by the lack of a treatment plant in their local area. 

Highlighting the new treatment plant in Arklow, the EPA says the plant “is helping to protect the local environment and is also supporting future growth and development in the town.”

This again reaffirms the importance of Newport getting the new treatment plant, as its residents have already described the delay as leaving the town “robbed of its potential.”

A completion date of 2030 had been announced for the new sewerage treatment plant but the EPA has expressed “uncertainty around exact completion dates” about projects such as Newport as “the projects must go through key stages such as securing planning permission and acquiring land before construction works can begin.”

The standoff between the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA) and Uisce Éireann is one such stage that has already caused a delay. 

Westport TD Keira Keogh has raised the issue with Minister of State, John Cummins, to push for progress in this area. 

One billion litres of sewage

The scale of the task faced by Uisce Éireann in the country is also spelt out in the report as each and every day more than a billion litres of sewage is collected in Ireland’s public sewers and treated at over a thousand plants. The treated wastewater is then discharged into rivers, estuaries, lakes and coastal waters. 

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The report also found that over half of the existing treatment plants failed to comply with its standards. Issues ranged from continuous breaches right up to continuous discharges of poorly treated sewage. 

The causes of these breaches included equipment breakdowns and inadequate operational procedures and training. On a positive note, the EPA commented that “unlike major infrastructure upgrades, these issues typically do not need major investment and should be addressed in a much shorter timeframe.”

Regarding the operation and maintenance of treatment plants, Noel Byrne, EPA Programme Manager, said: “Too many wastewater treatment plants are failing to meet licence standards due to poor management and maintenance practices. This is simply not good enough. When treatment plants break down or are not managed properly, our environment pays the price. The EPA has prosecuted Uisce Éireann on 28 occasions for failing to treat wastewater properly. Poor operational performance will not be tolerated by the EPA. Uisce Éireann must take immediate action to improve the operation and management of treatment plants and implement effective maintenance programmes to prevent equipment breakdowns.”

Uisce Éireann has said it is "committed to providing treatment in the remaining nine locations. However, this is not without its challenges, and we have experienced delays in obtaining the necessary statutory consents for the projects and encountered legal challenges in a number of locations."

Maria O'Dwyer, Uisce Éireann's Director of Infrastructure Delivery, said some of the issues highlighted in the EPA report underlined the scale of the work that still needs to be done to bring our wastewater network to the standard everyone would like to see.

“We are getting there but it will take many years and continued investment, as well as support from Government, our regulators, communities and our customers, to reach the standards we want to achieve,” she said.

“We know what needs to be done and have an ambitious plan in place to achieve it. Securing the necessary statutory consents for our projects has been a significant challenge, and we have encountered legal obstacles in several locations. For example the Greater Dublin Drainage Project, which is critical to meeting the rapidly growing wastewater needs of the Greater Dublin Area, has been stuck in the planning system for more than seven years and is currently subject to Judicial Review proceedings which risk delaying it further. Sustainable development cannot happen without appropriate water services infrastructure, and it is imperative that Uisce Éireann is given appropriate consideration in legislation at the plan, policy, and project levels to enable delivery of these essential projects.

“Like everyone else we would like to see faster progress in the delivery of essential wastewater infrastructure, but we remain committed to working closely with the Government and all relevant agencies to expedite these processes. Our goal is to ensure the timely delivery of projects that protect public health, enhance the environment and support sustainable development."