Sewerage scheme can’t cope with new developments

GORT Sewerage Scheme doesn’t have the spare capacity to provide treatment for approved developments that have yet to be started or completed.

Galway County Council has confirmed in correspondence to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that the current Gort Sewerage Scheme is almost at capacity and would not be able to treat the additional load if planned developments proceed over the coming years.

 

If all the proposed developments in Gort and its environs are constructed, with a potential population equivalent of 819, there will be insufficient capacity at the treatment works to treat the additional load.

The council stated the existing biological spare capacity of the treatment works is 323 people in terms of a population equivalent.

However, the authority also believes, in the current economic recession, these pending developments may not be constructed and that there will therefore be sufficient capacity in the short to medium term.

According to documents submitted to the EPA, there is a mixture of commercial and residential developments that have secured planning permission but haven’t yet started, possibly due to the economic collapse.

These include two nursing homes, two creches, a medical centre, community room, pub/restaurant, new station, toilets and a commercial unit.

Councillor Bridie Williers believes the council should be placing an upgrade of the town’s sewerage scheme on the agenda to cater for the future development of the town.

While Councillor Williers isn’t overly concerned about major developments over the coming years, she is worried there may not be enough spare capacity to deal with potential deficits in unfinished estates.

She hoped ghost estates won’t present a sewerage headache for the council due to the lack of adequate spare capacity.

Gort town had a population of 2,734 in the 2006 Census, a significant increase from the 2002 Census figure of 1,776. There are currently no wet industrial activities in the area.

The Gort wastewater works consists of three pumping stations and an extended aeration treatment plant, which discharges into the Gort River.

One of the significant features of the plant is that the two private pumping stations in the Slieve Carran and Burren View housing developments on the Ennis Road don’t have emergency overflows. There are no phosphorus removal facilities at the treatment plant.

In spite of the lack of a large amount of spare capacity, the council told the EPA there are no plans to carry out any additional capital investment to the treatment process capacity.

The council has installed new screening equipment at the plant. Following the provision of this equipment, a new picket fence thickener was put into operation.

Waste sludge from the settlement tank is pumped to the new picket fence thickener where it will be thickened to 3% dry solids.

The sludge will then undergo further treatment at the new sludge dewatering centrifuge equipment. However, this upgrade is not predicted to have any cumulative impact on the wastewater discharge.
Final effluent from the Gort wastewater treatment plant discharges to the primary point at the Gort River.

There is no emergency overflow from the treatment plant pumping station. Stormwater overflows may only occur when the capacity of the treatment works and the stormwater storage tank capacity has been exceeded.

Three stormwater overflow discharge points are located in the vicinity of Crowe Street. The culvert drains from the south-west of the town to the north-east and discharges to a stream at the north of the town, which in turn discharges to the Gort River.

“From discussion with the treatment plant caretaker, the secondary discharge point, which is an emergency overflow from the combined sewer siphon overflows more than once a year.

“Overflows occur when there is a build-up of grit and grease in the siphon. However, the siphon is maintained and is cleaned out every year.

“The three storm water overflows are not measured. Hydraulic modelling of the network is not available and therefore, there are no estimations available to quantify the frequency and quantity of storm water overflows,” the council stated.

The council hadn’t responded to a number of Clare Champion queries at the time of going to press.