High cost of wastewater upgrade

IT cost seven Clare householders between €3,500 and €7,000 to upgrade their on-site wastewater treatment systems following a complaint about septic effluent run-off, Clare County Council has revealed.

The Department of the Environment recently requested submissions from local authorities on the proposed new inspection and monitoring system for septic tanks and other on-site wastewater treatment systems following a European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling.
Consultation documents sent to the council by the department were discussed at length by the authority’s Environment and Water Services Strategic Policy Committee.
The committee decided householders should not be expected to comply, at their own expense, on any improvement in the performance of a system, which existed at the time of the development.
In its submission to the department, the county council confirmed it engaged in a project with seven contiguous householders in the period 2008 and 2010, which was divided into initial inspections, consultations with householders, agreement on programmes of work and inspections once the work was completed.
The range of works required site drainage, installation of treatment plant selected to suit each site and supervision of installation. In one case, a prosecution was taken against the householder who didn’t co-operate with council staff.
The costs per household ranged from €3,500 to €7,000, excluding site assessor costs, which was provided by council staff. No single formula could address each site and the scope of works on each site was variable due to existing on-site development, existing drainage, site slope and landscaping.
According to the submission, the start of any programme of de-sludging in all single-house systems in Clare would require careful management to ensure the receiving depots for the primary sludge were equipped to deal with the extra load.
It acknowledged the wastewater treatment plants have not been designed to accept this concentrated waste and warned the receipt of any substantial load could result in exceeding the limit values prescribed in the EPA licences.
“The existing resources available to local authorities will not enable the roll-out of a system requiring an intensive review of a large number of single-house systems.
“The focus for enforcement needs to prioritise significant risk areas and within this risk rating, we can prioritise development liable to generate significant loading to the receiving environment.
“This would address the business operations on single-house systems – particularly those facilities liable to generate significant effluent loading such as a bed and breakfast or home hairdressing facility.
“For older houses, the septic tank unit may be installed on an adjacent site to which a legal right of way obtains. A legal obligation to prevent pollution applies to the landowner but any works required are funded by the waste generator.
“Developments constructed under SR6 1975 and before the start of SR6 1991 were not required to have vent pipes installed at the end of the percolation pipes. Soak away was an accepted method of disposal of sewage under the older SR6.
“Many rural dwellings are occupied by two people, even where there were three bedrooms in the house. It may be worthwhile to consider the occupancy at registration and re-assess the occupancy and adequacy of the treatment unit on an ongoing basis,” the submission stated.
The submission suggested the department should consider introducing an approach similar to the Building Energy Rating system with a minimum performance rating to include the requirement for a leak-proof collection unit, which would be registered and de-sludged at specific frequency.
The council proposed the best approach would be the provision of legislation similar to the Cavan Bylaws, with provision for risk assessment of installations to identify locations where potential discharges to groundwater or surface water are perceived to impact on the status of these media. It stressed the requirement to provide a system, which complied with the EPA Code of Practice, was not necessarily a practical approach and should not be an absolute requirement.
Last November, the European Commission urged Ireland to comply with a 2009 ECJ ruling on septic tanks. The commission expressed ­concern that a year after the court ruling, no legal measures have been adopted to ensure that septic tanks are subject to adequate checks.
Councillor Brian Meaney believes the Government will not be able to fully cover the cost of upgrading septic tanks in Clare, which are shown to be contaminating groundwater following a programme of rigorous inspection, which should be provided by local authorities.
He warned householders will have to foot the costly bill of upgrading outdated septic tanks and noted the old practice of getting a vacuum tank to empty a septic tank was now contrary to EU regulations.
He stated that anyone who wished to empty septic tanks had to be fully registered and licensed and recalled an environmental consultant cited a €5,000 charge for assistance in filling out the necessary registration forms for one Clare contractor who wanted to enter this business.