Sewage flowing through east Mayo town can't happen again says councillor

An east Mayo councillor has warned that Kiltimagh faces serious problems in the future if the wastewater capacity in the town is not expanded following recent flash flooding.

On July 13, raw sewage flowed through parts of Kiltimagh after flash flooding in the town resulted in the wastewater system not being able to cope with the surge in rainwater and a number of properties and businesses were flooded.

Speaking at the recent monthly meeting of the Claremorris/Swinford Municipal District, local councillor Adrian Forkan said that what happened should not be allowed to happen again and called on the council to investigate the matter.

“I need to know now or for the next meeting if there is a capacity issue with the storm water and with the sewerage treatment plant in Kiltimagh. Are both going into the one pipe down to the treatment plant because if that is the case there is nowhere near enough capacity,” the Fianna Fáil councillor commented.

READ: Mayo councillor claims Safe Routes to School scheme is a ‘closed shop’

Cllr Forkan added that the addition of new houses in the town will put more pressure on the network and asked if there plans to do something to support the current infrastructure.

“In this day and age in any major town you cannot have storm water and sewage mixing and the whole lot comes up the drain and onto the street. That cannot happen. Whatever needs to be put in place needs to be done quickly and money found somewhere to remedy that. Storm water should not be mixing with the sewage, it should be one or the other,” he said.

He was supported by Foxford-based councillor Neil Cruise who said the capacity in the plant in Kiltimagh is nowhere as big as it needs to be.

“We had this before where manhole covers were blown open in instances such as this. The capacity of the system is nowhere where it needs to be. The two options are to separate it or make a bigger system but it will be expensive either way,” he said.