Short-term solution for Clew Bay wastewater issue within grasp
COUNTRYFILE
IRISH Water’s annual report of 2022 makes an interesting read.
Would you believe the state body responsible for ensuring acceptable water quality throughout the country enjoyed an operating profit in excess of €250 million last year alone?
This was despite a 50% increase in the number of employees earning over €100,000 – nearly 300 staff are in receipt of such handsome remuneration.
Nearly one billion government (read taxpayer) euro reportedly went into Irish Water last year. Hundreds of millions more came directly from – you guessed it – the taxpayer. It was reported that Irish Water ‘delivered a strong financial performance during 2022’. Indeed it did.
“This allowed us deliver jobs (including plenty at €100k a pop and a tidy €276k for the chief executive officer), increase capacity for housing and development and support economic growth,” says their annual report.
So strong was this performance that many find it baffling that nothing is being done to prevent Newport sewage pouring untreated into Clew Bay, which is purportedly a Special Area of Conservation with legal protection at European level.
CEO Niall Gleeson provides reassurance for the people of Newport and those who choose Clew Bay as a recreational resource in saying: “The safety of the public … is at the heart of what we do.”
It would come as no surprise, then, if immediate action was being taken to stop the deliberate and wasteful pollution of one of Ireland’s most valuable and environmentally sensitive areas.
Except that it is not. It is well understood that wastewater treatment plants require careful planning.
After all, there is little point in building costly infrastructure that will need upgrading after just a few years, which would likely be the case once prospective visitors learn of newly pristine waters and the place becomes flooded with tourists.
After a series of delays and postponements, it appears that the people of Newport will be able to use their toilets with a clean conscience only five years from now, and that at the earliest. Unless, of course, something was done to alleviate the ongoing pollution in the meantime.
But what short-term solution could there possibly be? What would happen if temporary wastewater holding tanks were built, above ground, in a suitable and safe location?
More jobs could be made – I doubt they would cost €100k each – as a small fleet of tanker drivers transport wastewater to the treatment plant in Westport, which at present operates comfortably within capacity.
We are currently looking at another five years of toxic (not to mention noxious) loading into the immediate environment of Newport Bay and as long as this situation is allowed to continue there will be no meaningful development of the town.
Yet the immediate surroundings of Newport have so much to offer. Where would you go to find anywhere as scenic as Loughs Furnace and Feeagh?
Where would you choose to stay if you wished to fully explore the Wild Nephin Ballycroy National Park?
Equally, we have the very exciting Mayo Dark Sky Park in its infancy, just waiting for the increase in visitor numbers that will surely come once proper infrastructure is in place.
In the meantime, it would be fair to those who do choose Newport as a holiday destination to let them know what is happening to the waste they generate while staying locally.
Let them then choose to swim or not to swim, to fish or not to fish, to forage for shellfish or leave them off the menu.
At least stop pretending that everything is alright, that we have on our doorstep a Special Area of Conservation that merits EU approval and full legal protection.
A short term solution is well within our grasp while we wait for well-paid intervention.