Kildare council denies it regularly releases polluting sewage into Liffey

Kildare County Council has vigorously denied claims by anglers and other river users that it is regularly discharging partially treated sewage into the Liffey.

The allegations were made in the wake of the council admitting it discharged a large volume of pollutant material due to "a pump failure" at its waste water treatment works at Leixlip last month. This contaminated a 10 mile stretch.

Dublin & District Salmon Anglers' Association secretary Mr Pat O'Molloy claimed discharges by the council of sewage pollutant into the river were frequent and not as the local authority had described. It was just that the discharge was "more obvious and more severe than usual" on February 25th - the lower Liffey was polluted with a large build-up of a foul-smelling, frothy scum.

He said he was also speaking on behalf of other angler groups in Chapelizod, Glenside and Lucan. Such discharges were facilitated by the ESB releasing large volumes of water from its reservoir up-stream of the plant.

The ESB has denied any suggestion of collusion in discharges of pollutant material. A spokeswoman said the ESB had a proactive fishery policy. On "a small number of occasions" the ESB responded to requests from local authorities to release water into the Liffey. "This was to ensure dilution of material and to ensure there was no risk to fish."

However, Mr O'Molloy said the number of discharges into the river over 20 years put a question mark over the council's competency. "This incident was not an isolated case. No way can it be attributed to a sudden breakdown."

He said not much credence should be attached to the council saying there was no evidence of a fish-kill last month. "That stretch is almost depleted of salmon and trout. These are the species that would be most sensitive to a kill."

He claimed local authorities were largely responsible for denuding the lower Liffey of fish by the release of partially treated sewage and alum sludge, a by-product of water abstraction from the waterway.

Last month's incident coincided with 8,000 salmon, donated by the ESB, being brought to nearby Islandbridge by the Marine Institute and put into tanks before release. "It was absolutely pitiful to see them in tanks filled with water that contained diluted sewage thanks to Kildare Co Council."

Mr Tony Maher, of Salmon Leap Canoe Club, which uses the Liffey, said he had monitored sewage discharge problems on the river. He believed that when there was a large flood insufficiently treated material was released from the plant. "There is no set pattern. But when there's a flood coming, the material is let out into the river."

He claimed pumps seemed to break down at night and it took hours for somebody to turn off the discharge. A system to ensure that this never happened again was urgently needed.

Eastern Regional Fisheries Board manager Mr Alan McGurdy said it had no evidence of systematic discharges of partially treated sewage despite problems at the plant. However, the incident on February 25th was not supposed to happen. A "fail-safe system" had not worked. "Stand-by pumps did not work. Nothing worked."

Fortunately, it was not too warm and there was a fair degree of dilution. He confirmed water quality in the lower Liffey had deteriorated in recent years. While the council said the incident was nothing to do with over-capacity, it was obvious that its Osberstown treatment plant further up-stream was operating at over capacity. Water below its discharge point was being classified as "seriously polluted".

A Kildare Co Council spokesman said there had been a pump failure on February 25th and a back-up pump had also failed due to an electrical fault. As a consequence, a second back-up system did not operate. He denied any implication that such discharges were a regular occurrence. "The incident was unfortunate and unique."

The council was not in a position to say what caused the initial electrical fault or how much liquid was released into the river. The river had diluted the material while the ESB had let off water at 74,000 cubic metres per hour that morning which helped flush out the river.

There were no "capacity problems" at the plant but the council was building an additional facility to cater for the Intel plant nearby. With Kildare being a rapidly growing county, it constantly reviewed treatment capacity. "We share the concern of people on the need to protect the river."

He said there had been nothing furtive in the council's response to the circumstances of the discharge.