Irish Water denies Galway sewage leak claims

Raw sewage from the city’s wastewater treatment plant is spewing out into iconic Galway Bay, it has been claimed. Irish Water has issued a denial.

A local election candidate and residents have claimed that Mutton Island Wastewater Treatment facility is full to capacity and is at bursting-point, with raw sewage spilling out into the bay made famous the world over through song.

Irish Water, which is responsible for the facility, has denied the claims.

Users of the bay, including local residents, fishermen, boat-users and cruise liner operators, have complained that their vessels are covered in raw sewage as a result of having to pass-by the human waste spewing from Mutton Island. It is thought that a nasty ‘pong’ along the coast, particularly at the Claddagh, South Park and the Prom in Salthill, is a direct result of human waste at Mutton Island.

There are fears that, unless capacity at the facility is increased rapidly through capital investment, then it will have serious negative repercussions for the reputation of the city, Galway Bay and tourism in the West of Ireland.

The situation has been described as an environmental and infrastructural crisis by a local election candidate. John Walsh, Fine Gael candidate in Galway City East, said fishermen and other seafarers had reported faecal residue on boats entering the Docks from sailing through swathes of human waste in the Bay.

“These reports are of utmost concern and represent an environmental and infrastructural crisis for Galway,” said Mr Walsh.

“As the peak tourism season approaches, we are facing the prospect of having thousands of visitors on luxury cruise liners dock in a polluted bay, having to navigate through human excrement to come ashore. The city’s reputation is on the line, and it is vital that Galway City Council responds immediately and affords this situation the priority that it warrants,” he said.

Claddagh resident, Paddy Curran, says “the smell is something else”.

“They blamed it on a dead whale but that’s not it. The Claddagh residents and people down at the Claddagh Hall are all worried about it. The pong is unreal. I’ve been reliably told that raw sewage is being discharged from Mutton Island. It’s being discharged into the tide,” he said. Mr Curran said the matter has been raised with city councillors and City Hall.

Another boat-user, who encountered raw sewage seeping from the plant while sailing, said: “I’m not an engineer but it must be capacity issues”.

“We have a population of 72,000 and how many more do you have during the Summer season? And then when the rain water is added in it, there is an overflow into the bay.”

Galway City Council referred all queries to Irish Water, which it said now has responsibility for Mutton Island.

Irish Water in a statement said: “Mutton Island is operated to a very high standard by the operations contractor, and a recent EPA Audit raised no issues in regard to the standard of operation at the plant.

“It should be noted that the plant consistently meets the wastewater quality standards laid down in the Discharge Licence issued by the EPA to Galway City Council, and for which Irish Water is now responsible.

“The capacity of the plant is only exceeded in times of very heavy rainfall, when, due to the amount of rainwater conveyed to the plant, overflows of stormwater which has undergone preliminary treatment occur from the inlet works at the plant.

“The necessity to discharge stormwater is a feature of all wastewater treatment plants. There is an emergency overflow at the entrance to Mutton Island, which discharges untreated stormwater if an exceptional storm event occurs.

“This overflow operated only twice in 2013, both times in December, for a total time period of 157 minutes – this would be the only time that liquid which has undergone no form of treatment at the Mutton Island  is discharged.

“The facility is not leaking raw sewage into Galway Bay. The plant operates with very little spare capacity, due to the high organic loading, but the treatment process operates very well and it consistently achieves very high levels of removal of suspended solids and organic matter and is able to produce a high quality treated discharge.”

Irish Water confirmed that an upgrade of capacity at the plant is on the cards.