Lee Road plant investment ‘won’t resolve dirty water’, says Cork councillor

A Cork city councillor has said it is “shocking” that more works are needed at the Lee Rd water treatment plant to further treat source water at the intake and the treated water before it leaves the plant.

Uisce Éireann announced that it is investing an additional €1.6m at the plant after investing €40m in upgrade works of the plant in 2022. The utility company also said that over €100m has been invested in infrastructure improvements across the city in recent years.

Uisce Éireann’s regional operations manager for the south-west, Brian O’Leary, said it has expedited the installation of the manganese removal step partly in response to the event at the end of August where elevated levels of manganese were detected in the network.

He said the manganese removal system should be in place by the end of 2024 and the scheduled completion date for the installation of all works is mid-2025.

It comes as Sinn Féin councillor for Cork City North West, Michelle Gould, raised concerns about the level of manganese detected in the water in Cork at the end of August.

During a recent meeting of Cork City Council, Ms Gould put forward a motion calling for the local authority to take back the ownership, management, and operations of all water services in Cork city — which was passed.

Speaking to The Echo following the most recent announcement by Uisce Éireann, Ms Gould said: “It is shocking that a new plant was built so recently and is already out of date and needs an upgrade.

“While the investment is welcome, it will do nothing to resolve the dirty water caused by rust and sediment in the cast iron pipes. The €40m investment in the Lee treatment plant did nothing but make Cork’s water worse. People have no faith in Uisce Éireann to resolve these problems.

“I can’t believe that €100m has been spent on the city’s water infrastructure while the water is dirtier than ever before. There are serious questions to be asked about the initial building and operation of this plant.”

Cork North Central People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Mick Barry said: “It’s good to see that Uisce Éireann is putting in place a mechanism to remove manganese from the water supply, it’s just a pity it wasn’t done before now. Better late than never, I suppose.”