A £120 million drainage and environmental scheme, one of the most significant undertaken in Cork city and designed to return the Lee river to pristine condition, has been announced by Cork Corporation.
The scheme, which involves massive engineering and planning, will collect and treat the 13 million gallons of raw sewage and polluted water which flows into the Lee each day. If it is a success, Corkonians could be swimming again in the Lee near the city centre.
Mr Jack Higgins, the Cork city manager, said at a news conference yesterday that the project was designed to have radical and positive effects on the local environment. However, it has been steadfastly opposed by residents of Carrigrenan on Little Island, where the final treatment plant is to be located to cope with the sewage removed from the river for treatment.
The opposition to the scheme has continued for almost two years and has involved a protracted and intensive arbitration process. However, the EU has sanctioned the Cork Local Authority's proposal and it seems certain to go ahead.
"It is no longer acceptable to have sewage and waste water entering the river untreated. This colossal engineering project will end this and restore the riverways, Lough Mahon and the estuary, which are grossly polluted at present, and bring them up to EU bathing standards. In the process, it will lead to increased usage of the estuary for recreational purposes and create significant opportunities for tourism development," Mr Higgins said.
"Apart from the fact that we must comply with the EU waste water directive and the governmental environment action plan, it is from every perspective - public health, environmental, visual and aesthetic - desirable that we undertake this major project." The proposed scheme will also treat domestic and industrial waste water from the Tramore valley, Glounthaune and Glanmire. The scheme is designed so that sewage will flow by gravity from the present main outfall points through a large trunk sewer to a site near Blackrock. before being pumped to the treatment plant at Carrigrenan.
That plant will be built at a cost of £25 million. Inside a landscaped perimeter, sludge will be reduced to a pasteurised dry granular material which will be odour-free and will be used as a fertiliser and soil-conditioner.
The local authority in Cork has invited the residents of the Little Island Community Association to become part of a liaison committee to oversee the project.