RECENT inspections of
septic tanks by the Environmental Protection Agency
reveal that their threat to the country’s drinking
water has been "substantially exaggerated", MEP
Marian Harkin has claimed.
She said the threat posed by domestic septic tanks
"paled in significance" when compared with "the
damage being caused by 38 of Ireland’s largest
sewage discharge systems that failed to meet
treatment standard".
The North and West MEP welcomed figures showing that
52% of septic tanks considered to be a threat to the
environment, had passed inspection.
“What this means is that, considering that the
septic tank inspections are focused on those
identified to be those most likely to fail, the pass
rate is encouraging but not surprising," she said.
"These results, having regard to the EPA statement
which indicated that many of the failures could be
prevented by elementary actions such as de-sludging,
revealed that the attempt to associate deficient
septic tanks with the quality status of waters had
been exaggerated."
Ms Harkin added: “This result, when taken in
conjunction with the recent revelation by the EPA
that 38 municipal sites including Dublin and Cork
are not up to the standard required and that
discharge of raw and inadequately treated sewage are
damaging both drinking and sea waters, requires an
immediate and effective investment programme to
rectify this totally unacceptable situation."
Meanwhile, the EPA figures show that more than half
of Donegal septic tanks failed the council
inspection - one of the highest failure rates in the
country. |
