Uisce Éireann appeal following vandalism at Tipperary waste water treatment plant

A Nenagh councillor is demanding an immediate meeting with Uisce Éireann over what is alleged to being dumped into the Nenagh River at Ballycommon.

It has emerged over the past few months that the village’s waste water treatment plant is not functioning correctly and Uisce Éireann is taking steps to remedy the issue. It has been claimed that raw sewage has been dumped into the river from the plant.

Uisce Éireann has revealed that the outflow pipe at the plant had been vandalised recently and that plastic debris had been removed from the treatment plant.

Cllr Morris has now sent a report he obtained on what is being discharged into the river to the water utility asking if the outflow pipe has planning permission and how is it monitored.

According to a statement issued by Uisce Éireann to The Tipperary Star, the company is concerned at an incident of vandalism carried out at Ballycommon WWTP in recent weeks whereby an outfall pipe was intentionally blocked.

“This temporarily impacted the performance of the plant until corrective actions were carried out by our staff,” they said.

“This tampering incident carried out at Ballycommon WWTP was extremely dangerous. Wastewater infrastructure should only be accessed by authorised personnel to ensure the safety of our staff and the general public,” they said

Uisce Éireann and Tipperary County Council are appealing to the public not to tamper with any WWTP assets and request the assistance of the public by reporting details of any such incidents immediately to Uisce Éireann, An Garda Síochána, or Tipperary County Council.

According to Uisce Éireann, the Ballycommon wastewater treatment plant was a privately developed plant which was taken in charge by them in 2021.

Since then, they have carried out regular maintenance works at the plant to improve its performance. This includes regular desludging and removal of material from site to prevent overflows to the river.

They say that they have also committed to carry out further upgrades at the plant and have engaged with the original suppliers of the system in recent weeks which has led to some immediate improvements and repairs to the plant.

Uisce Éireann says that site visits and inspections took place to confirm the scope of the works and while these works are expected to improve the plant performance, further works significant will be required.

Improvement works carried out this month with its partners in Tipperary County Council include emptying tanks and removing plastic debris to help restore performance.

They say that the operation of the plant will continue to be closely monitored over the coming weeks to ensure that it is improving to the required levels.