Concern over water quality in our local rivers

Concern over the deteriorating water quality in the Nenagh river has prompted a move by local councillor Séamie Morris to find out exactly what is entering all rivers in the locality from licensed discharge pipes.

The move by Cllr Morris comes just weeks after the publication of a report by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), which found that water quality in the river had deteriorated and was in “bad condition”.

Now, Cllr Morris has asked Tipperary County Council to publish a list of licenced pipes discharging into all rivers in the Nenagh Municipal District, and to declare how exactly those pipes are monitored. He has also received a reply on a query he submitted to the EPA in relation to a plan by Arrabawn Cooperative Society, which is currently seeking permission from the county council to run an underground outfall pipe from its plant in the town into the Nenagh River.

The co-op has informed the council that the planned  pipe would be used to pump “cooling water, condensate and treated effluent” for its existing waste water treatment plant at Knockanpierce to the river.

The planned discharge point from the pipe would be immediately upstream of the bridge over the river on the Thurles Road at Tyone, close to the co-op’s existing farm, hardware and garden store. The company has submitted a Natura Impact Statement to the council in respect of its development of the pipe, which it intends to run along a 1.25km route for its plant to the river.

CLAREEN STEAM

On a query by Cllr Morris on the proposed new pipe, the EPA has informed Cllr Morris that Arrabawn currently discharges treated final effluent and condensate to the Clareen stream.

The Clareen, whose route passes close to the co-op site in Stafford Street, is a tributary of the Nenagh River and flows into the latter waterway just upstream of the Nenagh Leisure Centre on the Dublin Road in the town.

The EPA has told Cllr Morris that Arrabawn is required to cease the discharge of condensate and final treated effluent from its wastewater treatment plant to the Clareen under the terms of its licence with the agency.

The EPA said the Clareen Stream has been included as  “an Area for Action” under the EUs Water Framework Directive and is required to achieve the “Good Status” by 2027.

The EPA said that it has carried out an assessment which found that the flow of water in the Clareen is considered too small to accommodate process discharges from Arrabawn if it is to achieve “Good Status” by 2027. Because of this, Arrabawn is required to cease discharges of process emissions to the Clareen by December 31 this year, states the EPA.

“As the works require major investment by the licensee, they were given this deadline to allow for planning and infrastructure works to be completed,” the EPA has informed Cllr Morris.

RIVER MANAGEMENT

News of these developments come as so-called “Drainage Committees” responsible for rivers all over the Nenagh district meet on Thursday, July 18, to discuss management of these local watercourses.

There are local authority drainage committees long established to oversee five rivers in Lower Ormond – the Ballycasey, Ballycolliton, Borrisokane, Lorrha and Pallas rivers.

There are also two drainage committees in existence to oversee the Bunkey River in Newport and Kilmastulla which runs through Silvermines parish before its confluence with the Shannon at Parteen.

But because of his concern over the “disimproved” state of the Nenagh River, Cllr Morris has asked that it too be included on the agenda when the drainage committees meet next week.

He has also called on the council to provide an update on any remedial works on the Clareen Stream that may have taken place.

In a report published by the EPA early last month, the Nenagh River was listed as one of four water bodies in the Republic that are the latest to be classed in “bad condition”.

The agency said the local river was one of many all over the country now “impacted by multiple pressures such as agriculture, urban wastewater and other human activities”.

The latest probings by Cllr Morris follow revelations he made last year about the spillage of raw sewage from the waste water treatment plant in Ballycommon into the Nenagh River.

His revelation prompted an investigation by the EPA, which ordered Uisce Éireann to immediately shut down an outflow pipe from the plant to the river.