Demand that Irish Water face council to explain problems

“An even bigger problem than the last one,” is how Cllr Andrew Duncan has described an issue identified at the waste water treatment plant in Mullingar, that he claims has led to the discharge of untreated sewage into the River Brosna for a year.

Stating that the cause is understood to be the application of an incorrect flow setting, Cllr Duncan said he wants Irish Water brought before the members of the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad to explain why the problem occurred.

It comes two months after Irish Water confirmed that a problem had been identified with the operation of stormwater screens at the Mullingar Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The FG man was angry at Irish Water and at Westmeath County Council for not holding Irish Water to account.

Cllr Duncan aired his feelings as he reacted to the official response provided at the June meeting of the municipal district to a question in his name asking that the district inquire off Irish Water as to how the incorrect flow setting at the wastewater treatment plant in Mullingar occurred.

Cllr Duncan said that error had permitted untreated sewage to be discharged into the River Brosna for a year since it was identified.

The response from the council stated that it has no public wastewater section any more and that all matters relating to the provision and development of public water or sewage should be directed to Uisce Éireann.

“I didn’t ask you to fix the problem,” said Cllr Duncan. “I asked you to contact Irish Water and I would say that I’m a little bit disappointed because the stock response is ‘it’s not our problem’ – but it is our problem and I’m not satisfied with the answer.”

Cllr Duncan said Irish Water needs to be asked how the issue happened, and what measures are being put in place to ensure it does not happen again.

As a result, he said, he was no longer asking that the district write to Irish Water seeking a response: instead he wished to demand that Irish Water be brought in to the council chamber to meet members in light of the fact that two “very significant” operating issues had been identified in less than three months.

“We have a relatively moderate treatment plant being run extraordinarily poorly, which is having enormous consequences for the waterways downstream of the plant and Lough Ennell,” he said.

Cllr Duncan continued: “I want the people directly responsible for overseeing this in this chamber ready to answer some questions that are genuinely and legitimately to be asked. This is a very serious issue.”

He said it was “crazy stuff” to think that in this day and age, raw sewage should be flowing into a river system.

Responding, director of services Deirdre Reilly defended the executive, stating that if they had been asked to “write a letter to Irish Water”, they would have done so. She said as an executive, when asked to contact Irish Water, they have to advise councillors to make their queries through the Irish Water local rep support system.

“That’s what Uisce Éireann have set up for you, for the use of the members. And I know you’re unsatisfied with the response you’re getting from Uisce Éireann, but in fairness to the executive here, all we can do is act as the in-between, except for in relation to where we have an enforcement issue under environment,” she said.

Senior executive officer Mary Goldsberry added that if the executive writes to Irish Water, it has to use the same portal as the council members themselves.

“If Westmeath County Council’s only way of engaging with Irish Water is through that portal, then we have a bigger problem than I thought, because you guys should have a hotline directly. And if you don’t, then there’s a major systematic flaw in the whole process. So that’s something that we need to come at from a different perspective.”