Clon residents convinced stench is from new wastewater plant

ODOURS in the bay in Clonakilty cannot be explained away as smelly seaweed.

That was the position taken by Cllr Paul Hayes (Ind) when the matter was discussed at a meeting of the Western Division of Cork County Council.

The councillor had previously requested a report on the efficacy of the town’s wastewater treatment plant and when it wasn’t produced at the divisional meeting he asked for the report to be made available at their next West Cork Municipal District meeting.

Cllr Hayes said that when he raised the issue with Council officials they deflected it back to Irish Water, which is responsible for the operation of the treatment plant.

But he said, ‘I’m not getting much satisfaction from my correspondence with Irish Water, who are blaming the odour on seaweed in the bay!

‘People who have lived and worked in that part of town for years are convinced that the stench is from the state of the art wastewater plant,’ he added.

‘We were assured that the new plant, which was officially opened in December 2015, was future-proofed, and would cope easily with increased volumes from an expanding population.’

He believes the reverse is true and that the system is incapable of dealing with the increased volume of effluent from all the new housing and industrial units that have been built over the last seven years.

‘This is very concerning,’ he added, ‘given the fact that Clonakilty will see several hundred more houses coming on stream in the near future.’

At the divisional meeting, the environmental director, Louis Duffy, asked Cllr Hayes to send him the trail of correspondence to Irish Water and Council officials and he gave a commitment to look into the matter.