Almost 5 million litres of raw sewage was discharged into the Cavan River over a week period last year.
The EPA in it's latest report has criticised Uisce Éireann - formerly Irish Water - for the slow pace of upgrading wastewater treatment plants. The Urban Wastewater Treatment Report for 2023 shows that 58% of the 504 urban wastewater treatment plants had some kind of issue last year. The EPA have been critical of Uisce Éireann in the report, citing that incidents could have been avoided through improved management and oversight. One of these incidents involves Cavan, where a pump malfunction caused 4.7 million litres of untreated sewage to be pumped into the Cavan river. The pumps failed to work correctly for over a week. The report also lists 34 priority areas for upgrades, with Castleblayney, Carrickmacross, Bailieborough, Blacklion, and Mullagh included. However, according to the EPA, upgrades for Blacklion and Mullagh have not been scheduled by Uisce Éireann and may not take place until at least 2029. Upgrade works have been completed to the Castleblayney plant and work is ongoing to monitor the water there, While works have been scheduled at Bailieborough and Carrickmacross to start this year or in 2025.
Speaking on the Joe Finnegan Show this morning, Dave Shannon who's an inspector with the EPA, says raw sewage making it's way into rivers is simply not good enough
