Contamination charge

Council accused of contaminating a group water scheme and private wells in North Clare, writes Dan Danaher.

Householders in North Clare have cried foul over the alleged contamination of a group water scheme and private wells by treated effluent discharged from the Clare County Council’s sewerage treatment plant in Kilfenora.

 

The local authority has admitted that a tracer has been found in the Lemanagh-Roughan Group Water Scheme and has been linked to treated effluent discharged into the Ballybreen swallow hole from the village’s wastewater treatment plant.

The group water scheme serves about 13 households as well as farm connections, while the tracer has also appeared in four other private wells serving another eight houses.

Residents, who have been subjected to a boil notice, have also claimed that group schemes have been contaminated by what they believe to be traces of human and animal waste. They have expressed their frustration and anger that this could happen in 2012, while at the same time they are expected to have their own septic tanks in working order.

They have alleged that the council is pumping poorly treated wastewater from the Kilfenora plant down a swallow hole that, in turn, has contaminated groundwater.

As an interim measure invoked by the council, water is being provided to some residents from a tanker, which has been described by Councillor Joe Arkins as a short-term solution and not sustainable in the long term. Councillor Richard Nagle admitted the situation is “embarrassing” in the height of the tourist season.

Councillor Arkins expressed his disappointment at a council meeting on Monday that councillors were not informed about a “serious pollution incident” involving a boil notice.

The lack of Government funding for small sewerage schemes like Kilfenora was criticised by Councillor Nagle who stressed it was disappointing this incident had occurred and warned it could happen again, unless proper financial allocations are made to the council.

Joan O’Dea from Ballyganner, Kilfenora confirmed to The Clare Champion that she was visited by council officials who took water samples and was subsequently handed a boil notice on April 24 this year.

According to the boil water notice, a tracer study was commissioned by the council to determine the underground flow path of the discharge from the Kilfenora wastewater treatment plant. As part of this study, a borehole on the O’Dea property was sampled and low concentrations of trace were recovered from their water.

As a precautionary measure, on the advice of the HSE, she and other residents were advised to boil their water prior to consumption.

Ms O’Dea stated that water tests taken on May 3 by council officials revealed an e-coli reading of 14 and bacterial coliform of 78. Both of the samples, she said, contained bacterial faecal contamination indicating the presence of traces of animal and human waste.

While the council has provided a water tanker and are working on a new water connection from Kennedy’s Cross, she said she can’t put this water into her tank and has to wash cups and have showers in “dirty water”.

She also expressed concern her ESB bill has increased to €275 because she is forced to boil the kettle between 30 and 50 times a day.

“I am getting sick of this. I kept ringing the council but the situation has continued. We had to pay a few thousand to provide a bore hole for our own water. I want the council to fix the wastewater treatment plant.

“We used to give water to my daughter, Niamh when she was going back to college. Now we are wondering what have we been drinking all along, has it been contaminated?

“I spoke to the EPA and I was told to ring offices in Dublin, Castlebar and Cork. I was also told to make a submission to the EPA. The whole thing is a disgrace.

“We are supposed to register our septic tank and have it in working order while the council is pumping wastewater down a swallow hole,” she said.

Brian Keane from Lisket admitted he was shocked to learn that traces of wastewater from the treatment plant ended up in his water supply. He also felt it was shocking that poorly treated sewage has been pumped into a swallow hole for 30 years.

“How has this been allowed to happen? Even during the boom could this not have been rectified?” he asked. He estimated up to 60 people could be affected.

A number of other residents declined to comment and hadn’t returned requests for an interview at the time of going to press.

Kilfenora civil engineer, Michael Duffy has consistently argued that the Kilfenora sewerage scheme should be upgraded and has expressed concern about the discharge from it in extensive correspondence with the EPA.

Water from Ballybreen swallow hole flows mainly in an underground conduit towards the Elmvale springs between Kilfenora and Kilnaboy, the headwaters of the Fergus.

Senior engineer Sean Ward has acknowledged it is unlikely the Environmental Protection Agency will issue a certificate authorising this discharge, as new EU regulations came into force in 2010, over a year after the council’s initial application.

However, before both the 2007 discharge and the 2010 groundwater regulations, Mr Ward stressed the council clearly recognised that direct discharge of effluent to groundwater was unsatisfactory practice and had procured a consultant to design a new sewerage scheme for Kilfenora.

The Government’s 2006-2009 Water Services Investment Programme (WSIP) included a scheme designed by the consultant, which would have upgraded the sewer network in Kilfenora village, increased the capacity of the treatment plant and provided a means of eliminating the direct discharge to the swallow hole, at a total cost of approximately €1.8 million. However, this scheme was omitted from the Government’s 2010-2012 WSIP.

While the council doesn’t have the finances to provide a new sewerage scheme, it has access to €130,000 from Government and its own resources to eliminate the direct discharge, pending approval from the EPA.

In response to further information requests from the EPA and in light of the new groundwater regulations, the council commissioned a study from a locally-based hydrogeologist, Dr David Drew, to ascertain if water flowing from the Ballybreen swallow hole could be getting into a number of privately-owned drinking water wells in the area east of Kilfenora.

The owners of the wells gave their consent for the study, which was done earlier this year.
Dr Drew’s report, issued in early April 2012, showed tracer had been found in low concentrations in four individual wells east of Kilfenora, belonging to the Lemanagh-Roughan Group Water Scheme.

A boil notice was served on the owners, on the advice of the HSE. Council staff met the owners of the four wells at Lemanagh on May 3 this year and undertook to provide an alternative water supply.

Initially, the alternative was the provision of a tap near the Kilfenora mart and, in the case of Mr O’Dea’s well, the council also organised tankers of water, as the cluster of houses in Ballyganner served by his well is a considerable distance from the main road.

The tap and tankering are an interim provision only, as the council is currently laying a new main along the Kilfenora to Lemanagh road to give public mains water to the people affected and this is expected to be completed in mid to late August.

Mr Ward has personally met some or all of the wells’ owners on three further occasions on site since the first meeting on May 3 to keep them informed about progress on the provision of a new supply.

“The discharge to the swallow hole at Ballybreen has been in place since the 1970s, thus the current situation is not a new occurrence but it is newly discovered.

“Any well in the area could be contaminated by other means, for example, run-off from land or defects in septic tanks, but as the pathway from Ballybreen is now known to be a possible source of contamination under the council’s control, it considers that it has a responsibility to provide an alternative drinking water source,” he said.

Describing the lack of consultation with councillors as an oversight, Mr Ward explained the council was mainly focussed on solving the immediate problem of devising a means of alternative water supply.