Wastewater treatment in one Clare town has failed to meet EU standards.
A new report from the Environmental Protection Agency has found Lahinch to be one of 10 large urban areas, which didn’t meet the mandatory treatment and effluent quality standards in the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive in 2023.
The report also notes that Uisce Éireann connected 13 towns and villages across the country to treatment plants between the beginning of 2023 and mid-2024, including Clarecastle, Kilrush and Liscannor.
The number of towns and villages discharging raw sewage daily fell from 29 to 16 nationally, since the start of 2023, with Ballyvaughan and Kilkee among those remaining on the list, as their public sewers were not connected to treatment plants.
Kilmihil, meanwhile, is among 34 priority areas, where the report says improvements are needed to prevent wastewater discharges from harming rivers, estuaries, lakes and coastal waters and Uisce Éireann has not scheduled upgrade works until at least 2029.
Programme Manager at the Environmental Protection Agency, Noel Byrne says sewage is polluting our rivers and coastal waters.
