*Uisce Éireann’s Ennistymon plant. Photograph: John Mangan
A SCHOOL-TOUR like trip for elected members of the West Clare Municipal District to wastewater treatment plants in North Clare is on the cards.
Officials in Clare County Council are to request Uisce Éireann to facilitate a visit by elected members of the West Clare MD to their wastewater treatment plants.
It follows a proposal by Cllr Liam Grant (GP) who called for a trip to Uisce Éireann’s wastewater treatment plants in Ennistymon, Lahinch, Liscannor and Miltown Malbay along with the Ballymacraven water treatment plant be organised.
He stated, “I think it is really important that the elected members see how disgusting some of wastewater and water infrastructure is and better understand the controversies that have surrounded them. We currently have the wastewater infrastructure of a third world country and more needs to be done to fast track new facilities. Uisce Éireann should be present on site to explain to elected members the short comings in our infrastructure and what is being planned to improve this”.
Multi-tasking by attending both Tuesday’s West Clare MD meeting and that of the Physical Development Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) online, Cllr Grant remarked, “if a councillor got a call to look at a road or a pothole you’d go to have a look at it but so few councillors have visited the wastewater treatment plants”.
Lahinch based Grant said he has asked Uisce Éireann to be let into their facilities and has received no correspondence but this has not stopped him from entering onto their grounds. He called the Miltown facility “a disgrace” and claimed it can only be accessed once a year to desludge it while leaking sewage onto an adjoining field. “People might be proactive if they went and looked with their own eyes, it might give Uisce Éireann a kick to do something about because it is very clear that nothing is being done,” he said.
Admitting that it is possible he will lose his seat following the local elections on June 7th, Cllr Grant outlined that he was keen for the incoming councillors to carry out the visit to have “a good understanding of our wastewater treatment facilities and our water”. He added, “We know where our roads are, our lifeguards, our fire services but we don’t know where our water facilities are. I want Uisce Éireann to know that the councillors are watching”.
Describing it as “a school tour” of Uisce Éireann’s facilities in North Clare, Cllr Grant said “Whether it is wearing a hard hat or wellies I’m happy to do it”.
Cathaoirleach of the West Clare MD, Cllr Ian Lynch (IND) seconded the proposal. “Irish Water should facilitate it and it’s important to see the different types of treatment”. If an invite is received, he believed the county’s TDs should be asked to attend “because they have access to the purse strings”.
“I’d like to agree with inviting the Oireachtas members,” said Cllr Joe Killeen (FF) when voicing his support.
There is an onus on Uisce Éireann to better inform the public of their plans, Cllr Cillian Murphy (FF) maintained. “We’ve a situation in Kilkee where public have come out strongly on a proposal to put in a wastewater treatment plant. If Uisce Éireann brought buses of people from Kilkee to their new plant to see it and see it working I’m not sure if they would have had the same level of push back”.
He added, “Cllr Grant is talking about disgusting facilities but modern systems are a different breed”. Murphy noted that Uisce Éireann must up the amount of wastewater treatment plants in Clare but cautioned “if they meet this push back they will be doing it for the next 100 years”.
