Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) says it welcomes the Environmental Protection Agency’s new report on urban waste water treatment in 2019.
Published this week, the EPA’s report criticises Irish Water over failure to meet pollution prevention standards at treatment facilities for 19 large towns and cities around Ireland.
Commenting on the report, IFI’s head of operations Dr Greg Forde said: “Continuing untreated discharges to waters around Ireland pose an unacceptable risk to the environment and public health.
“These untreated discharges are preventing the recovery of the biodiversity and ecology of significant rivers, estuaries and also where discharges go direct to the sea.
“It is unacceptable that many rivers are failing to recover due to persistent untreated discharges or overflow discharges where the capacity of treatment plants is inadequate to address growing populations.”
Dr Forde added that IFI is also concerned about the 35 predominantly coastal towns and villages without proper facilities for the treatment of sewage.
“It is not until 2022 that a significant number of these plants will come online,” he said.
As previously reported on Afloat.ie, IFI has launched updated guidelines on ‘Planning for Watercourses in the Urban Environment’ which outline an integrated watercourse protection strategy.
