LIMERICK Council has been urged to engage with Uisce Éireann to kickstart the process of installing a wastewater treatment plant for the village of Montpellier to stop the flow of untreated sewerage entering the River Shannon.
Speaking at the recent monthly Metropolitan District meeting, Fianna Fáil councillor Joe Pond told Council members how an estate in Montpellier with 16 houses is served by a septic tank which is discharged into the lower River Shannon. The tank, he revealed, discharges into the river through an open pipe without any form of dispersal.
“The discharge point is in a high-probability flood risk zone. When flood waters rise, the pipe from the tank into the Shannon has to be closed manually by a valve. The tank then becomes a holding tank and has to be emptied every couple of days otherwise the raw sewerage backs up through all the houses,” Cllr Pond explained.
According to the City East representative, a boat mooring point is in close proximity to the discharge point of the tank, less than 100 metres away. The mooring point, he said, is used by The Shannon Dragon Project for cancer patients and women in remission.
“It is possible that some of the users of this facility may not be in good health and should not be exposed to contaminated waters.
“It is a fact that this tank is not a treatment system and it is located in the worst possible place. In the past, the tank has flooded resulting in raw sewerage contaminating flood waters around dwellings. There may be a risk to public health, in particular to the people who use this section of the river,” he warned.
Fine Gael councillor Sarah Kiely formally seconded Cllr Pond’s motion as she reminded the Council executive of community members previously addressing members in the chamber on this issue a number of years back.
“This is going on since about 2020. Irish Water have shirked their responsibility in relation to water quality for that area,” Cllr Kiely claimed.
“Uisce Éireann should be really coming down and giving us a briefing on what exactly is going to happen here instead of us having to raise this issue continuously.”
Independent councillor Ursula Gavan shared the sentiments and hit out that the dragon boats mooring is surrounded by sewage.
“The most vulnerable people in society are putting up with this. But now it’s not just the dragon boats, we’ve got the swimmers, the kayakers, the rowers, and the walkers. Something needs to be done,” Cllr Gavan concluded.