Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Malcolm Noonan has pledged to provide accurate information on a potentially dodgy siphon carrying vast quantities of sewage under the River Corrib.
Responding to concerns raised by Galway West TD Catherine Connolly in the Dáil this week, the minister said he would request “a more comprehensive reply” from Uisce Éireann regarding independent survey reports warning of the threat of imminent collapse of one of two major pipes which convey effluent to the city’s Mutton Island waste water treatment plant.
Two siphons transport waste water from Oranmore and east Galway city across the Corrib estuary riverbed from near the Long Walk to the Claddagh, and onward to Mutton Island.
“The information being given by Uisce Éireann is not open and transparent,” said Connolly. “It needs to be open to analysis on defects [as] spending our time saying the info we have is not accurate is not one bit helpful,” she said.
Connolly has queried information provided by Uisce Éireann officials to the Public Accounts Committee last month that contradicts a survey by engineers from McBreen Environmental in May this year warning that one Corrib sewage siphon “it is at risk of collapse at any time”. This report warned the pipe needed “urgent” repair considerations “to avoid total failure”.
“There is either a serious misunderstanding or misinformation here, and I am not sure which it is,” Connolly told Minister Noonan.
The minister warned Irish Water that regardless of government formation after an expected November election, its infrastructure investment must continue as a new European Union urban waste water directive will demand “much more onerous targets” for the utility.
Connolly outlined a litany of Environmental Protection Agency concerns relevant to Galway city and county’s waste water network, including potentially unlicensed tankering of sludge along the R336 Coast Road, and the “daft and silly” decision on the siting of a waste water facility in an Cheathrú Rua.
In response, Minister Noonan highlighted a €13m investment in upgrading Athenry’s water infrastructure, and plans for Barna, Oranmore and Merlin Park.
In September, Uisce Éireann opened a public consultation on a long-term plan to ensure the adequate provision of wastewater services for Galway. The 50-year Galway Wastewater Strategy will assess all wastewater treatment and network infrastructure in the Galway Metropolitan Area, Athenry, and Moycullen. See www.water.ie/GWS Meanwhile, Uisce Éireann has warned that Galway city areas of the Rahoon Road, Cedarwood and Highfield Park may experience some disruption to their water supply on Thursday, October 24. Customers in Ard na Coille and Rivendell may also experience reduced supply.
