A waste-water treatment plant in Co Clare has been discharging into the sea without a licence for almost two years. Clare County Council did not apply to the Environmental Protection Agency for a licence for its plant at Quilty until a year after it had begun to accept and treat sewage. It has yet to be given an operating licence.
The treatment plant, which cost €1.7 million to build, began to accept waste water in June 2011. The EPA received a discharge licence application last July. Under the Waste Water Discharge (Authorisation) Regulations 2007, based on an EU directive, local authorities should apply for licences six months before operating a plant.
Asked why the council had not applied for a licence before the plant began operating, the spokesman said, “It was an omission.”
The plant’s catchment area includes the villages of Quilty and Mullagh, and the surrounding countryside. There are four beaches within 9km of its discharge point into the sea, which is 2km south of Quilty village.
Two of the beaches, Whitestrand at Miltown Malbay and Whitestrand at Doonbeg, have blue-flag status, which is awarded when beaches reach a high level of cleanliness and amenity.
Spanish Point does not have a blue flag, but the water quality for all three beaches has been assessed as good, according to documents sent to the agency by Clare County Council.
