Aer Rianta told to put sewerage works in place

Clare County Council has moved to stop unlicensed pumping of untreated sewage by Aer Rianta into the Shannon estuary.

Last month, an Environmental Protection Agency report found Aer Rianta is pumping over 100,000 cubic metres of raw sewage into the Shannon estuary each year from its new terminal at Shannon airport.

The terminal opened in March 2000 and the permission granted by the council was conditional on Aer Rianta putting in place sewage treatment works. However, this has not happened. Consequently, since the terminal opened, 300,000 cubic metres of untreated sewage has been pumped into the estuary, which is a candidate Special Area of Conservation.

The council has issued Aer Rianta with a warning letter and ordered "that the conditions of the planning permission be complied with without delay".

An Aer Rianta spokesman said yesterday it was aware of its obligations and a planning application for a new €2.25 million treatment works will be lodged in the next number of weeks."It has always been Aer Rianta's intention to put the sewage works in place, but that hasn't happened due to matters outside our control." It expects the plant will be in place by 2004.