PLANS FOR a new Dublin regional sewage treatment plant, second only in size to the Ringsend sewerage works, are to be reinstated six years after they were rejected by county councillors.
The plant, which will serve Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow, will be located in the northern part of the greater Dublin region, but its exact location will not be determined until later this year.
In March 2005, Portrane in north Dublin was identified in the Greater Dublin Strategic Drainage Study as the preferred site for the new municipal sewage plant to satisfy the region’s growing needs.
In November that year, Fingal councillors voted to reject the plan and ordered that the drainage study, which had cost €10 million and involved intensive analysis over five years, be reviewed.
The review was completed in 2007. It found existing sewerage systems were not adequate to cope with demand and that a single regional sewage treatment plant was best. It recommended the plant still be located in the “northern greater Dublin area”, but not necessarily Portrane. However, it did not rule out Portrane.
Little progress was subsequently made. However, engineering firms Jacobs and Tobin Consulting have been appointed to assess potential sites and the process will be open to public consultation in coming months. RPS, which were consultants for the Ringsend sewage plant and the Poolbeg incinerator, will be overseeing the public consultation process.
Beaches in north Dublin have repeatedly failed EU water tests since the rejection by councillors of the Portrane plant. In 2009, nine of the State’s 131 bathing sites failed to meet minimum clean-water standards. Of these, one third were in Fingal.
Balbriggan front strand, Skerries south beach and Burrow beach in Sutton were all found to have excessive levels of faecal coli-forms in their waters.
Fingal county manager David O’Connor said the new plant was essential to future employment, social progress and economic growth in the region. There would be extensive public consultation on the plans, he added.
An application for the plant is expected to be made to An Bord Pleanála by 2013. The choice of any site in Fingal is likely to be met with strenuous opposition.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Showing posts with label sewerage treatment plants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sewerage treatment plants. Show all posts
Monday, 18 April 2011
Friday, 12 September 2008
State fails to treat sewage properly at six sites
WASTE TREATMENT: THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice has ruled that Ireland has failed to treat sewage properly at six locations around the country.
The State was found to be in breach of a 1991 EU law on urban waste water in: Bray, Co Wicklow; Howth, Co Dublin; Shanganagh, Co Dublin; Letterkenny, Co Donegal; Tramore, Co Waterford, and Sligo.
The court ordered Ireland to pay costs in the case but did not impose fines, allowing the Government to comply with the ruling. A Government spokeswoman said: “The previous difficulties have all now been resolved and work to meet the requirements is under way.”
The European Commission took the case in 2004 after it found Ireland had continued to be in breach of the 1991 directive – despite having had until the end of 2000 to have the proper treatment plants in place.
The Government accepted that in five of the areas it was in breach of EU law, but it said this was because of delays over land acquisition, permits, environmental impact statements and other legal and technical requirements.
The court rejected this defence.
“Member states cannot plead internal circumstances or practical difficulties to justify non-compliance with obligations arising from rules of community law,” yesterday’s judgment noted.
Ireland disputed that it was in breach of the law at Howth, saying the catchment area was not large enough to need the type of sewage treatment plant required under the 1991 directive, since part of the Howth waste was being processed at a different plant.
The court said it was Ireland which initially defined Howth as being large enough to need such a sewage plant. Ireland “has not provided, in the present case, any convincing evidence or argument to justify a finding that the area from which the as yet untreated urban waste water comes should no longer be considered to form part of that agglomeration”, noted the judgment.
Ireland also complained to the court that the commission had changed the complaint it made over the Letterkenny plant, saying initially it did not have a proper sewage treatment plant but then changing tack to say the plant was overloaded. The court also rejected this argument.
A Government statement indicated the Tramore scheme was completed in 2007 while work at Sligo is “substantially complete”.
“Construction is under way on two of the three contracts for the Howth scheme, with the third contract to commence shortly,” it said. Work at Bray/Shanganagh is expected to start this year while the Letterkenny scheme is to go to tender, with construction set to start in about a year’s time.
The EU law was adopted in May 1991 to protect the environment from household and industrial waste water. It sets out different steps for treating sewage based on population and water sensitivity.
Where water is high in nitrogen and/or phosphorous, further steps are needed to treat it.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The State was found to be in breach of a 1991 EU law on urban waste water in: Bray, Co Wicklow; Howth, Co Dublin; Shanganagh, Co Dublin; Letterkenny, Co Donegal; Tramore, Co Waterford, and Sligo.
The court ordered Ireland to pay costs in the case but did not impose fines, allowing the Government to comply with the ruling. A Government spokeswoman said: “The previous difficulties have all now been resolved and work to meet the requirements is under way.”
The European Commission took the case in 2004 after it found Ireland had continued to be in breach of the 1991 directive – despite having had until the end of 2000 to have the proper treatment plants in place.
The Government accepted that in five of the areas it was in breach of EU law, but it said this was because of delays over land acquisition, permits, environmental impact statements and other legal and technical requirements.
The court rejected this defence.
“Member states cannot plead internal circumstances or practical difficulties to justify non-compliance with obligations arising from rules of community law,” yesterday’s judgment noted.
Ireland disputed that it was in breach of the law at Howth, saying the catchment area was not large enough to need the type of sewage treatment plant required under the 1991 directive, since part of the Howth waste was being processed at a different plant.
The court said it was Ireland which initially defined Howth as being large enough to need such a sewage plant. Ireland “has not provided, in the present case, any convincing evidence or argument to justify a finding that the area from which the as yet untreated urban waste water comes should no longer be considered to form part of that agglomeration”, noted the judgment.
Ireland also complained to the court that the commission had changed the complaint it made over the Letterkenny plant, saying initially it did not have a proper sewage treatment plant but then changing tack to say the plant was overloaded. The court also rejected this argument.
A Government statement indicated the Tramore scheme was completed in 2007 while work at Sligo is “substantially complete”.
“Construction is under way on two of the three contracts for the Howth scheme, with the third contract to commence shortly,” it said. Work at Bray/Shanganagh is expected to start this year while the Letterkenny scheme is to go to tender, with construction set to start in about a year’s time.
The EU law was adopted in May 1991 to protect the environment from household and industrial waste water. It sets out different steps for treating sewage based on population and water sensitivity.
Where water is high in nitrogen and/or phosphorous, further steps are needed to treat it.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
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