Uisce Éireann has been fined €3,500 following a wastewater pumping station discharge into an important trout spawning and nursery habitat close to Cavan town.
The discharge caused sewage fungus to cover a 2km stretch of the Cavan town river, downstream of the incident. A total of 150 juvenile and adult brown trout were killed.
Uisce Éireann was found to have committed water pollution breaches and was ordered to pay €4,158 in costs and expenses in connection with the incident on July 1st, 2023. The case was heard in Cavan District Court last October 3rd.
Inland Fisheries Ireland’s northwestern director Dr Milton Matthews welcomed the outcome. “This contamination event should never have happened. It resulted in the needless and avoidable death of a significant number of brown trout,” he said.
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In a previous case in December 2020, a fine of €2,000, plus costs and expenses of €3,197, was imposed on the utility at the same court for a discharge at a different location on the same river. This related to a pollution incident on February 3rd, 2023, at the wastewater treatment plant discharge point.
The presence of sewage fungus in the river was indicative of chronic organic pollution of Cavan town river, rather than an isolated incident, the court heard in the earlier case. This had a significant impact on fish, invertebrates and aquatic life, it heard.
In a statement on Tuesday, Uisce Éireann said that, following the incident in July, its “operations and compliance experts have put a number of measures in place to seek to ensure that such an incident will not recur”.
These measures include installation of new sensors to detect any issues with the operation of the pumping station so immediate steps can be taken to rectify them.
[ Rules to protect Ireland’s fragile rivers are being repeatedly breachedOpens in new window ]
“New operating procedures for the site have also been developed and implemented, including weekly inspections of the river and pumping station, and daily readings of the monitoring and control data from the pump station,” a spokesman said.
“Uisce Éireann regrets the environmental damage resulting from this incident and any distress caused to the local community.”
IFI urged the public to report instances of water pollution, fish kills, habitat destruction or illegal fishing, to its confidential 24/7 number, 0818 34 74 24.
