by Ronan Casey
Westmeath County Council has apologised for “the distress and in- convenience” caused to the public in July of this year when a faecal bacteria contamination of the bathing waters at Lilliput effectively forced the closure of the lake for almost two weeks during the summer.
They said they were “confident with a small c,” that they have identified the problem and are taking steps to ensure the pollution does not happen again.
At the September meeting of the Mullingar Municipal Area, the Council revealed that as part of its efforts to stem the pollution, it has been tankering wastewater away from a treatment plant at Lilliput for treatment elsewhere.
The lakeside treatment plant, which Topic understands the Council owns, had been leaking human waste into the lake in July of this year.
That the Council had a role in the faecal contamination was revealed following a probing question by Cllr Paul Daly (FF) at the monthly meeting, which took place at the County Buildings in Mullingar on Monday of this week.
Cllr Daly said that whilst he was satisfied to some degree with the apology and the promise by the Council that they are taking action ahead of the 2015 bathing season, he will doggedly pursue the matter on an ongoing basis.
EXPLANATION
At Monday’s meeting, Cllr Daly asked the Council to provide a full explanation as to the cause of the human waste contamination and to identify what actions will be taken to avoid any future incidents of a similar nature.
The bacteria found in the lake affected bathers during the peak summer season, with bathers reporting itches, rashes and hives.
Council Mullingar Area Executive David Hogan replied: “As a result of faecal bacteria contamination of the bathing waters at Lilliput, the Council was obliged to restrict bathing at this location for a period from the 14th to the 23rd July 2014.
Once the contamination was identified, the Council, in conjunction with Irish Water, immediately closed down the wastewater treatment plant on the site and tankered the wastewater off site for treatment at a licenced plant.
It is believed that the source of the contamination has been identified and steps are being taken to address the problem in advance of the 2015 bathing season. WCC apologises for any distress or inconvenience caused to the public.”
‘CONFIDENT WITH A SMALL C’
Cllr Daly then asked how sure were the Council that they had identified the source of the contamination and wondered if tankering away waste was going to be permanent thing.
Mr Hogan said the removal of the matter in tanks was “an interim solution” as the contamination was having a direct impact on bathing areas and needed to be removed.
“Following a detailed investigation of the effluent and other discharges, we are now confident with a small ‘c’ that we have identified everything there. We are taking steps to ensure it does not happen again. We are sure we haven’t missed out on other sources. We’re not 100% confident, but confident it should not happen again.”
Cllr Daly then asked: “Will you pursue it until you can use a Captial ‘C’?” to which Mr Hogan replied ‘yes’.
Speaking to Topic after the meeting, Cllr Daly expressed surprise that not one of his ten fellow elected members on the Mullingar Municipal District (the Council body representing the former Mullingar, Coole and Kilbeggan areas) chose to speak “when this pollution had such an impact on the county.”
“I was very surprised,” the hard-hitting Councillor said. “Some Councillors have a tendency to raise matters at a meeting, then let the people know they’ve raised them and then forget about them. But not me, I’m happy with the action taken by the Council for now but I vow to pursue this issue. If there is a problem with infrastructure, with a treatment plant, then it needs to be removed or upgraded immediately, not forgotten about until next summer. There needs to be a long-term, more permanent solution to this thing.”
