GREEN Party candidate
for Buncrana, Sheenagh McMahon, has hit out at the
"horrible odours" being endured by people living
near the local sewage plant in Buncrana.
"Why should the people of Buncrana who live in the
proximity of the sewage plant have to suffer
horrible odours? I have received a large number of
complaints from residents and businesses about these
sickening smells," said Ms McMahon.
She said she had been in touch with the county
chemist Donald Casey and had sent the Council's
sanitation department a copy of the World Health
Organisation (WHO) guidelines on odour-related
gasses and air quality.
"To date no real-time odour monitoring of H2S in the
vicinity of waste water treatment plants has been
established in Ireland. Odour can have a significant
impact on populations living in the vicinity of
wastewater treatment plants and odour concerns
around these plants in Ireland have been reflected
in the recent increases in complaint levels," said
Ms McMahon.
She called for an immediate assessment of the local
waste treatment process in a bid for a solution to
be found to the "nuisance odour".
Citing other local authorities' actions in relation
to waste filtration she said Southern Water had
demonstrated their commitment to ensuring that
sludge reception, storage and thickening facility
did not produce nuisance odours.
"An enhanced bio filtration process was selected as
the most effective odour abatement technology for
this application as it delivered the requisite
performance and guarantees, significantly lower
running costs compared to other technologies and
minimal operational input," she said. |
