There has been a positive update for Ballycommon’s waste water treatment plant.
Councillor Seamie Morris has been pushing Uisce Éireann for answers for several weeks about the plant’s issues.
Following a meeting between Uisce Éireann and the plant’s suppliers, Kingspan, on site, it was confirmed that a plan would be put in place to upgrade the facility.
Complaints of a foul smell and safety concerns for aquatic life and swimmers have been reported at Nenagh River due to the pollution coming from the Ballycommon waste water treatment plant.
The independent councillor welcomes the news, as the current plan of action is sustainable.
“I’ve been sending in frequent questions to try and get an ultimate decision to try and upgrade the treatment plant in Ballycommon. That included many questions to and from Irish Water (Uisce Éireann) over the last number of weeks. To be fair to them, they have come back to me with updates. They have been cleaning it out twice a week; in other words, they’re sending up lorries from Hogan’s to clean it out, and they have now committed to cleaning it out three times a week, but that ultimately is not sustainable. So, what happened last week was that there was a meeting between Uisce Éireann and the people who built the plant, Kingspan, and they are now coming up with a plan to upgrade the plant altogether and repair it. It’s great news.”
The promised timed action plan for the Ballycommon waste water treatment plant may see halted housing developments back up and running, according to Cllr. Morris.
He has been pushing Uisce Éireann for a timed action plan for the resolution of the plant so that planning permission for two developments in Ballycommon could get the go ahead based on the timing of the works on the plant.
Uisce Éireann has agreed that an upgrade of the facility is needed, and Cllr. Morris expects more updates in the next fortnight.
He says without intervention from himself and the Lough Derg Anglers, Uisce Éireann were satisfied to allow it to continue.
“I think they were sitting on it to be quite honest with you. I’ve never seen them move so quickly on something. Developers were scratching their heads; they couldn’t get any answers as to when something was going to be done. At least now we have a plan. I’m very happy I was part of getting the plan put together. And I also want to thank the anglers who also put in a submission into the planning out there; they themselves had enough of the stuff being pumped into the river, so we all had a role in it. “
