Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 26 Feb 1997

Vol. 475 No. 5

Adjournment Debate. - Dingle (Kerry) Sewage Treatment Plant.

Mr. O'Donoghue

Thank you for allowing me raise this important matter on behalf of the people of Dingle in my constituency of Kerry South. The difficulty relates to a new, state of the art sewage treatment plant in the town some three years ago installed by the Department of the Environment through its agent, Kerry County Council. Contractors were hired to carry out the work and they in turn operated to the instructions and plans of consultants.

Unfortunately, although the sewage treatment plant cost in excess of £3 million and was located in a coastal town whose harbour has been developed at considerable expense to the Exchequer in recent years, the development of the fish processing industry in the area was not taken into account. As a result, the plant was unable to cope adequately with the effluent from the three fish processing plants in the town. One would be forgiven for thinking a plant costing so much money and located in a coastal town with a tradition of fish processing would have been built to take into account that first, these processing industries existed and second, because the harbour had been developed, they would definitely expand. As the fishing fleet grew so did the landings into Dingle harbour — in 1996 they were estimated at approximately £7 million, as opposed to £1 million in 1989. More than 200 people are employed in the processing industry and many more are directly involved in the fishing industry.

Someone has serious questions to answer and I ask the Minister to discuss the matter with the consultants and Kerry County Council. It transpires that at no stage did either the consultants or the county council consult the fish processors, although the Department appears to be of the view that they did. Surely in a coastal town where fish processing is one of the major industries the consultants should have discussed the matter with those involved in the processing industry. Apparently this did not happen. Neither was there proper input from BIM — it was only consulted by way of a telephone call.

It is a great pity and a great drawback to the town that the sewage treatment plant does not take the effluent from the three fish processing plants. It has now been proposed to the owners of the plants that they should provide pre-treatment facilities. That would cost in the region of £300,000 per plant; the owners could not afford that and no grants are available. One processor finds himself in the unenviable position that, because he has been unable to date to comply with the effluent discharge licence, he is being denied payment of a grant of approximately £750,000. I ask the Minister of State to bring the various parties to this sorry saga together with a view to resolving it for the community.

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment (Ms McManus)

It is recognised that difficulties have been experienced since the Dingle sewerage scheme was opened in 1995. However, it is not accepted that these difficulties can be attributed to the design of the treatment plant.

Dingle sewage treatment plant was designed to deal with a loading of 8,000 population equivalent. This loading represents both domestic and industrial usage. It is usual for industrial waste to be accepted in a local authority scheme, provided that BOD strengths are reasonable. A reasonable level is considered to be domestic strength or slightly higher. If an industry generates waste which involves a high loading, it is the practice that the waste should be pre-treated to a reasonable level. Discharges of high strength wastes to a municipal scheme can cause major overloading which creates difficulties in the running of the plant and these difficulties can be exacerbated when the wastes are seasonal in nature.

In Dingle, the loading and concentration arising from the fish processing sector are subject to seasonal fluctuations. Discharges during the herring season, from October to February, are different in nature from those in the summer season when white fish which are gutted at sea are processed. It is also a fact that concentrations can vary from day to day. As against this, the design of a sewage treatment plant must be based on average discharges over a period, and cannot be designed on the basis of taking large loads over short periods.

The needs of the fish processing industry were taken into account when the plant at Dingle was being designed. As a result, almost 25 per cent of the plant's treatment capacity was set aside to meet the requirements of industry, mainly the fish processing industry. This provision is considered reasonable. The alternative to pre-treatment by industry of their effluent is to design a plant capable of catering fully for the untreated discharge from industry. In the case of Dingle, this would have required treatment for a population equivalent in the order of 75,000, which would have had huge implications for the capital and running costs of the scheme. In such circumstances, industry would have been required to make a major contribution to the capital costs of the scheme on the basis of the polluter pays principle.

As I mentioned earlier, in a situation where an industry generates a high strength waste it is the practice for that waste to be treated prior to discharge to the municipal treatment plant. This is achieved by the imposition of conditions through licensing under the Water Pollution Acts. The granting of these licences is a matter for the local authorities, in this case Kerry County Council. I understand that in order to find a satisfactory resolution to the problems which have arisen, Kerry County Council entered into discussions with representatives of the fish processing industry and has issued a revised licence. Pre-treatment facilities are required as a condition of this licence and are to be installed before the next herring season. Kerry County Council is confident that the requirements imposed by the licence will allow the treatment plant to operate effectively as soon as the appropriate measures are put into place.