€8m sewerage plant to open

He was there when the opening salvos for a new sewerage plant for the twin villages of Quilty and Mullagh were fired over 40 years ago and on Friday, Mayor of Clare, Christy Curtin, will be on hand to officially open the new €8 million sewerage scheme.

The end to a long, protracted campaign Mayor Curtin believes is a tribute to the perseverance of a good number of people and will act as a stimulus for further development in both villages.
“This is a fantastic project in a rural part of County Clare. The endurance of the community and public representatives of the area was tested and they must be commended for their persistence and patience with the delivery of the scheme,” he told The Clare Champion.
“Long term, it will enhance the entire environment in a very sensitive shoreline and should also assist in the future development of both villages,” he added.
The scheme dates back to the 1970s, when planning work first began. In 1974, Clare County Council appointed Consultant Engineers Nicholas O’Dwyers to prepare a preliminary report and the first report was approved by the Department of the Environment in 1975. 
The scheme itself was constructed under two main contracts. The first of these commenced in late 2007 with the awarding of the network (civil) contract to P&D Lydon Plant Hire Ltd of Cong, County Mayo. This contract consisted of collection sewers, pump stations and transfer mains for the new system and was completed in December 2009.
The second major contract, the design, build and operation, was awarded in 2009 to TSSL of Athenry and now following a commissioning period which commenced in 2010, the scheme is fully operational.
Under the contract, TSSL has completed construction of a new wastewater treatment plant at Tromracastle and a sea outfall at Seafield in addition to completing the fit-out of six pump stations at Carrowlagan, Quilty West, Seafield (2), Tromracastle and Rineroe.
In fact, TSSL will continue to operate and maintain the plant and pump stations on behalf of Clare County Council until 2031.  
Throughout the duration of the construction period work has been completed on over 11km of sewers, 4.5km of pumped mains, six new pump stations and over 160 new service connections.
In addition, the works involved significant specialist engineering in the construction of a directionally drilled outfall pipe guided under the seashore bedrock at Seafield, carried out expertly by O’Connor Utilities, a Manchester-based specialist.
Prior to the new scheme, the area was hitherto served by mainly ­proprietary (individual) systems such as septic tanks in conjunction with a two small-sized communal septic tank systems operated by the local authority.
Uppermost in the consideration of the scheme was the enhancement and protection of water quality, particularly as there are designated bathing Blue Flag beaches within the catchment.
Extensive modelling of the discharge point resulted in the significant milestone of being granted of a Foreshore Licence by the Department of the Marine in 2006.
The Quilty-Mullagh sewerage scheme was constructed under a grouped scheme along with Feakle and Scariff for consultancy purposes and at an overall cost of €14.5m. Over €8m of this cost is attributable to the Quilty-Mullagh scheme. The proportional cost is significant due to the extensive infrastructure constructed as well as the particular sea outfall requirements.
Director for Water Services, David Timlin, welcomed the project as another key achievement in delivery of water services infrastructure for the county.
“While focus is often rightly drawn to the financial burden this level of investment places on the authority, it does demonstrate the level of improvements possible with a dedicated team led by the local authority.
“We also appreciate the significant contribution made by the department, as well as our counterparts in the consultant engineering and contracting sector,” he commented.
Completion of this scheme brings the total spend to in excess of €46m on water services schemes completed by Clare County Council in the past two years.
In this period, the council has completed upgrading of sewerage schemes in Tulla, Clonlara, Corofin and Newmarket to a value exceeding €10m.
Clare County Council has also overseen a spend of in excess of €30m in water supply schemes in Ennis, Newmarket and West Clare (Kilkee) and will shortly complete the connection of the new Ballyvaughan water supply scheme of €6m to the regional supply.
The 2010-2012 Water Services Investment Programme Sewerage includes schemes to be constructed in Ennis-Clarecastle, Shannon, Kilrush and Kilkee at an estimated cost of up to €70m. In addition to this, water conservation funding of €6m will be spent in the duration of the programme.