Alarms at Dundalk Waste Water Treatment plant worry councillors

The lack of communication from Uisce Éireann (formerly Irish Water) to local representatives was highlighted by Cllr Emma Coffey at the March meeting, with Cllr Coffey telling the meeting that while they have always had issues with communications from the utility provider, it has “got to a point now where it's dire”.

Cllr Coffey said that the alarm at the water treatement plant at the Lower Point Road in Dundalk went off during three weekends in February, and that a number of local residents, as well as herself, contacted Uisce Éireann services. The Fianna Fáil councillor said no one has as of yet, got back to her or the local residents on the issue.

Cllr Coffey said that if there is an alarm going off then it is obviously a serious issue. She added that when Louth County Council was in charge of water services, they would always have got a call back from ground staff work working on water services, but they are now getting no feedback to queries put to Uisce Éireann.

Cllr Coffey said that the treatment plant is a major part of the infrastructure of Dundalk and asked if Louth County Council has had any feedback from the water utility. She added that the issues have been raised “up the line” at Leinster House, further adding that they “really need to press on this” as “if there's alarms going off we're going to have a breakdown somewhere”.

Cllr John Reilly also spoke on the matter, voicing his concerns over capacity issues, saying that if the tanks at the plant overflow then the only place sewage can go is in the estuary, which he added could be an environmental catastrophe in Dundalk Bay, and asked if the facility able to cope with all the extra developments taking place in Dundalk.

Director of Service, Mr Joe McGuinness said in response that while he couldn't comment on the specific issues, Uisce Éireann sought consultation on the Capital Programme for the next number of years and that Louth County Council made a submission to Uisce Éireann on the additional capacity in Dundalk.