Irish Water, working in partnership with Mayo County Council, will commence operation of a new wastewater treatment plant in the coming weeks to stop the discharge of untreated wastewater being discharged into Killala Bay.
This project forms part of a €19 million investment in wastewater infrastructure in Mayo, along with the completed Foxford and Charlestown Sewerage Schemes.
Irish Water stated: "The practice of discharging untreated wastewater is unacceptable and the new wastewater treatment plant will bring benefits to Killala in terms of health, integrity of the environment and improved water quality for angling, water sports and marine life.
"The new wastewater treatment scheme will also ensure that wastewater is adequately treated and meets appropriate standards before being safely discharged into the marine environment in Killala Bay."
Paul Fallon, Irish Water’s Infrastructure Programme Manager for Wastewater, added: "This project is hugely important to improving the quality of water in Killala Bay.
"The new wastewater treatment plant in Killala will serve a population equivalent of 1,800 and will allow for social and economic growth. I would like to thank the communities and the businesses for their cooperation and patience with these essential works.”
Irish Water added that the Killala Sewerage Scheme is part of a wastewater improvement project that also includes Foxford and Charlestown. The wastewater treatment plants in Foxford and Charlestown were upgraded in order to provide wastewater treatment capacity for the current population and for future growth in the area.
A new treatment plant to serve a population equivalent of 3,500 was built in Foxford, which also included the construction of a new pumping station and upgrade of the three existing pumping stations; installation of a new rising mains and upgrade of the collection network.
In Charlestown, the work involved upgrading the existing wastewater treatment plant to increase the capacity to 3,400 PE as well as the installation of new sewers and a new outfall to the Mullaghanoe River.
In 2018 Irish Water completed a €9 million wastewater treatment plant and sewerage infrastructure project in Belmullet with a capacity to treat wastewater from a population of up to 2,500 people, which ended the discharge of untreated sewage at that location.
Irish Water is also progressing plans for a new wastewater treatment plant in Newport to address the remaining raw sewage being discharged in the county.
For updates on the projects as they progress check out https://www.water.ie/projects-plans/national-projects/untreated-agglomerations-1/
