RENEWED SAFETY CONCERNS regarding the quality of water at Lahinch beach with “human excrement everywhere” along the Inagh River making its way downstream, a local councillor has claimed.
Launching a new appeal to improve the wastewater treatment infrastructure in Lahinch and Ennistymon, Cllr Liam Grant (GP) has produced a new online video which has clearly demonstrated the current flaws which are posing major health risks to the public.
Raw sewage has been pumped out of the Ennistymon wastewater treatment plant to the River Inagh on a regular basis, he flagged. “This happens because during periods of heavy rain the wastewater and the rainwater are being mixed together and the pumping station can’t handle this so it’s just pumping raw storage into the river which makes its way down to Lahinch Beach there’s actually evidence of the last overflow event, which has human excrement everywhere. Toilet paper, sanity pads, tampons. Everything that goes down your toilet is ending up in the river here and making its way out Lahinch beach”.
Lahinch experiences the same issues at times of heavy rainfall, he said. “The wastewater and the rainwater mixes together, the wastewater treatment plant can’t handle it and raw sewage is expelled into the river. The Lahinch wastewater treatment plant was also built on a floodplain, so every time there’s big tides and heavy rain, the treatment plant actually ends up underwater for a period of time. So raw sewerage from both Lahinch and Ennistymon are making its way to Lahinch Beach via the Inagh River on a regular basis”.
Frequent bathing restrictions imposed at Lahinch over the summer months were also referenced by Cllr Grant. He disagreed with the statements from Clare County Council and Irish Water that these do not swim notices were issued due to runoff from agricultural land.
Wastewater issues in North Clare are also impacting on the housing crisis, he said. “Last year, multiple housing developments were refused planning due to our inadequate sewage treatment. So not only is our wastewater infrastructure poisoning our waters, they are also a huge part of the housing crisis. Unfortunately, this problem is a common one, and it’s happening all over the county and country”.
He praised his party colleague, Senator Roisin Garvey (GP) who was among those to highlight “the awful raw sewerage situation” which existed in Liscannor. A new wastewater treatment plant is to become operational in Liscannor this spring, seven years after campaigning efforts were pushed by Garvey.
Liscannor’s plant will play a part in “massively reducing the amount of raw sewerage entering the bay in Liscannor. We now want the same for Lahinch and in Ennistymon and many of the other coastal villages in the county. We are going to have to kick up a fuss with Irish Water to do just that. I love Lahinch. I love surfing here. It’s such a beautiful place dear to my heart, as it is to many locals and tourists and we want to encourage people to come but I’ll be a lot happier telling those people it’s a safe place to swim, it’s a safe place to surf and that’s what we want, we want clean water,” Grant added.
