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THREE COUNTIES STAND out from the others when it comes to providing adequate sewage treatment facilities in urban areas.
Those counties – Cork, Donegal and Galway – account for over half of the untreated sewage that’s being discharged at 45 urban areas around Ireland.
The information is contained in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Urban Waste Water Treatment Report for 2014.
Director of the EPA Gerard O’Leary says that the report’s findings showcase the need for capital expenditure to be allocated to the worst affected areas.
“A reversal of the decline in capital expenditure seen in recent years is needed to eliminate the discharge of raw sewage from our environment and allow Ireland to meet EU standards,” he said.
Some other key findings of the report include:
12 large urban areas did not meet the EU directive’s requirement to provide secondary treatment
21% of incidents at waste water plants were attributed to issues surrounding operation and maintenance
Large urban areas non-compliant with the EU directiveSource: EPA"The operation and management of existing waste water plants needs to improve," said David Flynn, programme manager with the EPA's environmental enforcement office.
Audits of sewage plants had found in some cases inadequate maintenance and operation of plants and equipment.
One fifth of all pollution incidents at sewage plants could be prevented by better management and operation of treatment plants.
Progress
Responding to the results of the report this morning, Irish Water said it is "making significant progress" in addressing the most serious deficiencies in Ireland's wastewater treatment.
Some €320 million has been invested in new and upgraded wastewater infrastructure in 2014 and this year. The company said it expects to invest more than €2 billion in wastewater infrastructure up to 2021.
Irish Water has committed to ending the unacceptable discharge of untreated sewage from 45 locations across the country in that time and to prioritising solutions for 83 wastewater treatment schemes that are currently the subject of European Court of Justice cases against Ireland for longstanding breaches of European Directives.
Head of asset management with Irish Water, Jerry Grant, said the discharge of untreated wastewater will have completely ended by 2021 as a result of the detailed work programme already underway.
He said meeting the compliance challenge nationally will require "significant investment" for years to come.
- With reporting by Michelle Hennessy.
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Pretty stunning work alright
A Very fitting tribute
It’s just a pity he didn’t get a very fitting sentence, 20 yrs, hopefully he never sees the light of day again, but with some smart boy representing him-god knows,
A fantastic idea.
My god, if it looks anything like that good in reality, it’ll be one of the greatest pieces of monumental art in the world. Actually brings tears to the eyes just looking at it, pure genius. Such a shame such an achievement has its origins in such tragedy.
I’m kind of torn on the idea of these memorials..
One one hand – the loss of life needs commemoration, I get that, and I agree with it, but on the other hand that sick twisted nutter Brevik will see this as a marker of his work, he doesn’t deserve anything that could massage his ego in any way..
But he’s mad. You can’t control the thoughts and emotions of a mad man. He will think and feel what he wants to, irrespective of logic or decency.
I do realise that, it’s just while it’s a memorial for those who died, it’s also a monument to the actions of said mad man..
I said I was torn; not that I disagreed with the principle.
It’s like the media coverage school shootings get – it makes it look like a great way for a nutjob to get their 15 minutes of fame, even though that is explicitly not the intention.
It’s a valid point you raised, thats why I replied instead of red thumbing. But personally id see it as a way for wider society to connect and empathise with the victims.
I guess you have to decide which is more important, worrying that Breivik will gain some sort of twisted pleasure from this memorial, or the potential for the 69 families affected to gain some sort of closure from it. I think latter outweighs the former every time
Love this idea. Putting the place where this atrocity happened just out of reach and disconnected from land. Very fitting.
Richard, a lot of the time the “speeding, carelessness, feeling invincible, overdesign of motor vehicles etc.” is by one party to the accident, and the others are innocents who were just in the wrong place at the right time. (Although now you’re probably going to have a go at them for bad timing and planning)
(Sorry, this was in reply to a thread, I clicked the wrong button)
What about the hundreds of thousands of perfectly healthy people needlessly killed in by cars every year because car manufacturers need to sell cars? ……… No fancy memorials to them. We live in an absurd world.
Last time I checked those were called ‘accidents’.
The people commenting here are actually getting even more thick. If that is possible.
Car ‘accident’ – the greatest euphemism known to man. Actually due to speeding, carelessness, feeling invincible, overdesign of motor vehicles etc. etc. …
Jean Paul Valley your comment reflects the success of the car lobby in spinning car death as a tragic but unavoidable consequence of using cars.
Keep digging Richard.
As someone who has lost a family member to a tragic car accident, I find your comment insulting.
But cars aren’t designed to kill people. Road deaths are just an unfortunate by product of human error. Lots of things we use everyday cause accidental deaths. If a person chokes on a rich tea should we blame mcvities?
Anyway, you can’t compare a car accident to someone gunning down 69 people. Just a ridiculous comment.
For crying out loud Richard…
There are some exceptionally gifted human beings out there, and this guy is one of them. Fair Play.
Never forget what the fascists are capable of.
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