COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

QUESTION NO. 13

QUESTION: Councillor W. Lavelle

To ask the Manager to report on what measures are proposed for 2011 for the Liffey and Griffeen rivers under the ERBD programme of measure, to advise on how these measures are to be funded; and to report on the outcomes of recent academic research to examine the pollution content of stormwater outfalls to the Griffeen River?

REPLY:

The primary ERBD Measures for the River Liffey and River Griffeen catchments for 2011 are:

• Enforce water quality matters through the Local Government (Water Pollution) Act, 1977  and 1990 and in particular by means of:
  • 17 Farm inspections in the upper Griffeen Catchment,
  • Section 16 discharge licence monitoring to sewers in the catchment and in particular from Greenogue Business Park,
  • Remove domestic misconnections of sewer to surface water through the taking-in-charge process in the catchments,
  • Respond to pollution incidents reported in these catchments and resolve these;
  • Perform water pollution inspections at industrial premises where pollution is reported or where pollution is suspected; and
  • Issue section 12 and 16 Notices under the Local Government (Water Pollution) Act, 1977 where they are needed. These are legal notices instructing the person served to take certain actions.
• Enforce water quality measures through the Planning process:
  • Apply water pollution control measures to planning applications where water pollution could be a hazard. Such measures include conditions instructing applicants to install petrol interceptors, grit traps and contaminated fire water control.

• Perform statutory surface water quality monitoring as required by the European Communities (Water Policy) Regulations 2003 and report results to the EPA.

These Measures and Actions will be funded out of the existing Environmental Services budget and the work will be performed by existing Council staff primarily from Environmental Services but also from the Roads and Traffic, and Planning Departments.

On the other matter of recent academic study of the impact of stormwater outfalls to the River Griffeen during storm events, the student noted that while the nine stormwater outfalls monitored for the study period had certain levels of pollutants in them the effect of these on the River Griffeen were minimal. Breeches of water quality criteria were recorded for Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD₅) in the river during the period could not be directly attributable to the stormwater outfalls. Total ammonia was also exceeded on several occasions. Both parameters indicate organic sources. Other parameters, including dissolved phosphorus, concentrations in the river were measured as good throughout the study. One possibility for the substandard BOD and total ammonia measurement could be the turbulent state of the river during these storm events which stirs the river bed.

The project has yet to be received in it’s full form from the student but is expected by the end of January 2011. A better contextual understanding of the results is likely to be achieved at that stage.