Newbrook residents oppose ‘sludge hub’

Residents living near Mullingar’s Waste Treatment Plant have this week declared that they have “strong objections” to suggestions that the plant become a regional “Sludge Hub” for the east midlands.

The plant is at present just 22.35 metres from Newbrook Drive, and separated from the Newbrook Drive children’s playground only by a row of trees, an open later to Irish Water from the residents of Newbrook Grove and Newbrook Drive has warned.

The letter states that the waste treatment plant in Mullingar is located adjacent to three residential estates and within close proximity to five others.

Not just that, they continue, but the waste treatment plant is “very close” to the new school buildings being constructed to accommodate Gaelscoil an Choillín and Saplings.

In addition: “The smell coming from the lorries transporting the sludge to the Mullingar waste treatment plant and also from the plant itself, if this proposed Regional Sludge Hub is located in Mullingar, is a huge concern for our residents,” the letter states.

The residents go on to declare that the ground is not suitable for a regional sludge hub as the waste treatment plant in Mullingar is built on a flood plain.

“We are also very concerned with regard to the disturbance the proposed Regional Sludge Hub would have on the wildlife surrounding the Mullingar Waste Treatment Plant and River Brosna,” the letter continues, before going on to state that it is “absolutely outrageous” that Mullingar Treatment Plant is even being considered as the location for one of the regional sludge hubs.

Submissions

When Irish Water announced in September that Mullingar was one of seven potential locations under consideration, it stated that the volume of sludge is increasing year on year and by 2040 is predicted to amount to around 50,000 truck-loads of sludge each year, which represents an 80% increase.

Sludge is generated from the treatment of wastewater, but once it is produced, it needs to be treated so that it is safe for either disposal or re-use.

A sludge hub centre is a centralised treatment facility for the effective treatment of wastewater sludge prior to reuse or disposal.

A public consultation process on the site selection methodology is under way. It opened on 24 September and closes on 22 October. To view the Site Selection Methodology Report and for information, including how to make submissions, visit water.ie/sludgehubs.