AN
ENVIRONMENTAL group says it will vehemently oppose the planned extension of a
Southside waste water treatment plant which has been the source of foul odours
in the past.
Dublin
City Council will next month begin the public consultation phase on the planned
extension to the controversial sewage treatment plant in Ringsend, which was
built in 2003 at a cost of around e300 million.
The
plant has proved to be highly controversial among those living near the
facility because of the foul odours that have emanated from it.
The
council has spent some
?¬40 million on tackling the foul odour problem since
2003. It claims that since 2008 the issue has been resolved. However, some
residents in the area maintain that the odour problem still persists.
In July
2010 the Environmental Protection Agency granted the facility a waste water
discharge licence. The grant of the licence has effectively given the go ahead
for the extension to the plant.
The
local authority says it will begin the public consultation phase on the
extension scheme of the plant next month, which it estimates will cost in the
region of
?¬220 million.
Damien
Cassidy of the Ringsend, Irishtown and Sandymount Environmental Group said the
council had already wasted millions of euros of taxpayers’ money on the
facility and has called for the extension project to be scrapped.
“They
were told before that place was ever built that it wouldn’t work and it didn’t
work,
? he said.
“It took
another
?¬40 million to fix the smell temporarily and even that hasn’t been
fixed yet. And now they are talking about expanding it.
“On at
least three occasions per week there is a perceptible noxious smell still
coming from the plant. It would be a disaster for locals if that treatment
plant were to be expanded and we were to suffer the horrible nightmare that we
have gone through since 2003 with that plant. Instead of expanding it they
should be closing it down.
?
A
spokesman for Dublin City Council said as part of Ringsend Wastewater Treatment
Works extension further improvements on odour control are planned and will take
place in the early stages of the extension.
“These
include an increase in the capacity of the main odour control unit and increased
odour capture and treatment of remaining sources with activated carbon,
? he
said.
“Between
2005 and 2008 extensive odour control improvements were put in place with the
purpose of significantly reducing the amount of nuisance odours being emitted
from the Ringsend Wastewater Treatment Plant.
“After
completion of this upgrade in 2008 there was a very significant and sustained
drop off in the frequency and geographical distribution of complaints
received.
?
He added
that as part of the consultation process on the Environmental Impact Assessment
for the extension project, the council is holding a number of public
information meetings at which information will be provided and people can
register their viewpoint of the project in line with the statutory planning
process.