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Moville sewage row spills over

Posted Sunday, February 4, 2007

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Sewage Treatment Plant Demonstrations in Moville.

For the third week in a row a crowd of about 70 demonstrators with their placards matched up and down the main street in open revolt against the decision to construct a Sewage Treatment plant at Carnagarve and to pump the treated water into Lough Foyle at one of the main beaches and beauty spots in the area.

There is concern that the 'cleaned' water from the sewage is to be pumped into the Foyle at a local bathing spot and that there would be a smell from the Sewage Treatment works.

According to Donegal Council the site at Carnagarve offered "the optimum solution from an environmental, technical and financial viewpoint".

Retirement Shock

Noble peace prize winner John Hume had been hoping for a much deserved happy and peaceful retirement after successfully devoting his life to peace in Northern Ireland. Now he is to have a holding tank for raw sewage within metres of his front door.

I remember the late James Kealy telling me once that when the peace process was first mooted, the other leaders of John Hume's party said to him "Do you realise that this will mean the death of the SDLP"?

To which he replied "Look at the bigger picture. What did we get into politics to achieve? If the SDLP has to die to achieve that then so be it".

Said Enda Craig, the spokesperson for the Campaign for a Clean Estuary Group "Surely for a man who has given so much for the peace process, it could not be considered proper repayment to locate a raw sewage tank 15 metres from his front door".

Clean Water

The argument of the Council is that raw sewage is running out at a number of locations including this one and that what they would be putting into the Foyle would be clean water.

It would also mean that at the other locations where raw sewage is running into the Foyle the waters would now be cleaner as neither sewage or cleaned water would be entering Lough Foyle from these locations.

Furthermore, according to both the politicians and the engineers, the sewage treatment works won't smell.

The sewage treatment works is to be located close the the gaelscoil and around a 100 houses.

Election Issue

This has now become an election issue. The local people have claimed that there wasn't a proper consultation process whilst Donegal Council said that "considerable time, expense and effort had been put into proper public consultation".

According to Enda Craig, "This has become an election issue for this community. People are feeling abandoned and betrayed by their elected representatives. It is a cheap and nasty solution to a problem which has been ongoing for 30 years".

Other Solution

So, what would Moville people want?

They say that it should be pumped further upstream so that it would head out straight into the sea.

So, why would they not do that?

It seems that it would cost a lot of money so this is the 'cost effective' solution.

Truth of the Matter

So what is the truth of the matter?

Will it pollute Lough Foyle? Will the sewage treatment works really not smell?

I have to say that I have some knowledge of this subject.

Past Experience

I worked as an Computer Freelancer for both Thames Water and Anglian Water on the the 'dirty water' side.

I also then worked for the National Rivers Authority in England who were the monitoring body.

I had to write computer systems that managed how they handled their 'organic solids' and 'polluting liquids' (yes, you can guess what those are).

Considered Drinkable

It has to be said that the 'cleaned water' that is run into the rivers from the sewage treatment works is considered 'drinkable'. Indeed many of the Sewage Treatment Works pump it back into rivers that are used for drinking water.

It is often said that the water that Londoners drink has already passed through 7 people's bladders.

Raw Sewage Aleady

There is already raw sewage running into the Foyle at Lafferty's Lane.

What will be running into there will, supposedly, be water that's fit to drink.

So, surely that would be an improvement?

No Smell?

As regards there being no smell at a Sewage Treatment Works, as the engineers say, I think we can put that safely to bed.

To design a computer system for both Thames Water and Anglian Water I had to go out to all their Sewage Treatment plants to talk to their managers about what they needed for their computer system.

Almost to a man the proud managers and their engineers said that their Sewage Treatment works did not smell.

All Stunk

The problem was that they were all wrong. Every single Sewage Treatment Works I went to had a smell (they were all different for some reasons).

The trouble was that they were working there every day and their noses must have got used to the smell. It must have been the same for their engineers, but I can assure you that every single one of the Sewage Treatment Works smelled.

Smell Pollution

And it wasn't just the Sewage Treatment Works that smelled. You could smell it in the surrounding area as you approached them.

So, unless they've discovered and introduced a superduper new technology in the last few years that stops them smelling then we can safely say that they are going to smell.

Every Day

And it isn't just on some days that they smell. They smell each and every day.

Local householders had better hope that their noses, like those of the Sewage Treatment Works managers get used to the smell.

Getting a Whiff

And of course the Sewage Treatment Works will be located about a mile and a half away from both Moville and Greencastle.

So, on the days when the wind is blowing in the 'wrong' direction Moville and Greencastle will get a whiff of it too.

Eating Out

What will that do to their tourist industries?

Moville has around 500 restaurant seats for a population of 1400.

Most of the diners come from out of town.

Many come up from Derry or come across on the Foyle Ferry.

Smell While You Eat

Will they still enjoy their food so much if there is a nasty pong in the air that they know is coming from a Sewage Treatment Works?

Will people come back again if their day out in the sun was spoiled by a nasty pong?

Cost / Benefits

The Council say that it is not cost effective to have the Sewage Treatment Plant further north where it runs into the sea.

But how much would it cost Moville and Greencastle if fewer people came here on holiday or for a day out?

One wonders if this was factored into the Cost / Benefit Analysis which must have been performed by the Council.

Determined

It seems that the demonstrators will keep demonstrating every Saturday (not including the coming one when they are demonstrating elsewhere) to remind the politicians in an election year that they don't want a Sewage Treatment Works so close to them.