Council seeks extension for treatment plant compliance

Clare County Council has acknowledged it is not in a position to fully comply with conditions attached to the wastewater discharge licence for the Mountshannon Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) due to limited staffing resources.

 

In fact, the council will be making a submission to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the near future to request a time extension for compliance with these conditions for Mountshannon WWTP and for our other certificates that have similar conditions.

In the meantime, the council will be carrying out one significant item of work before the end of 2012 at Mountshannon, which will contribute to compliance with some of the conditions attached to the wastewater discharge licence certificate granted on June 16, 2011.

Senior engineer Sean Ward confirmed the council is bringing into commission the stormwater tank at the wastewater treatment plant. This will ensure that following heavy rainfall, big flows of water entering the treatment plant won’t run straight into the treatment system and cause an overload but will be stored on site and subsequently fed into the system during dry weather for full treatment.

As part of the licence conditions, the EPA requested the council to identify “appropriate improvements to the sewerage system, which are necessary to ensure all discharges from the scheme contribute towards achieving at least good status in accordance with EU surface and groundwater regulations within 12 months of the date of the grant of the certificate”.

The council was also asked to identify the presence of organic compounds and/or metals from the primary discharge point and prepare a risk assessment within the same period.

A further condition of the EPA licence requested an inventory of all secondary discharge points, storm water overflows and emergency overflows and other associated works and to describe any necessary improvement works.

Mr Ward acknowledged the council has not yet made the required responses to the EPA on the three conditions.

“The limited staff resources whom we have dealing with wastewater discharge licensing are being concentrated on other works, including submission of applications, responding to correspondence from the EPA about existing licences and certificates and preparing responses to EPA requests for further information about pending licence applications.

“We will be making a submission to the EPA in the near future to request a time extension for compliance with these conditions, both for Mountshannon and for our other certificates that have similar conditions,” he said.

Domestic wastewater is the main component of discharge to the Mountshannon wastewater treatment plant, which is located to the west of the village, with a small proportion of commercial waste in the form of bed and breakfast facilities and small commercial businesses.

The majority of homes and businesses are served by the foul system and there is no industrial activity in the village.

According to the council’s application for the discharge licence, the design capacity of the plant, which was constructed in 1990, is unknown.

The treatment process consists of an activated sludge process with phosphorous removal and the final effluent from the treatment works discharges directly to Lough Derg.