Science, engineering and management experts are among posts which Uisce Éireann hopes to fill in a recruitment drive for 700 jobs across the State.

The national water authority says the new jobs will be available over the next year, with some positions “ready to be filled immediately”.

“The roles span a range of disciplines, offering a chance for professionals, tradespeople at all levels, recent graduates, and skilled workers to contribute to their local communities while building rewarding careers,” Uisce Éireann says.

It says it is “committed to providing ongoing training, and attractive compensation and benefits packages to ensure a secure and fulfilling work experience”.

Front-line operations, science and engineering, administration, communications, management and IT are among the skills sought after in the utility’s large recruitment drive to date.

Iarla Moran, Uisce Éireann’s wastewater regional operations and maintenance manager in the northwest region, extolls the opportunity to move to the organisation.

He had originally joined Mayo County Council in 2004 as an executive engineer (electrical) and enjoyed the move from looking after a town and county to an entire region when he began working with Uisce Éireann last year.

“All of a sudden, I have a regional brief and I’m looking at the different ways that the teams in each county are delivering services and bringing that under one umbrella,”he says.

“It’s about using all the brilliant skills and resources we have to deliver efficient services to the communities we serve,” he says.

Uisce Éireann’s People and Safety Director, Dawn O’Driscoll said the positions will “ not only offer a chance to make a tangible difference to your community, but will provide plenty of opportunities to develop your career in a growing organisation”.

“We are looking for people with diverse skillsets to play their part in delivering transformative water services that enable their local communities to thrive,” she says.

More details are here

Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) investigated a serious fish kill incident that occurred on 3 September 2021 at the Glore River in Kiltimagh, Co Mayo, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

IFI’s investigation led to the instigation of legal proceedings against Uisce Éireann and court procedures concluded on Thursday 4 January.

Uisce Éireann, formerly Irish Water, has accepted liability for the fish kill, resulting from a chemical spill at the Kiltimagh Water Treatment Plant.

A senior fisheries environmental Officer has inspected the treatment plant on several occasions since the fish kill.

Following an onsite meeting on 8 October 2022, a number of recommendations were made to Uisce Éireann to reduce the risk of future spills at the Kiltimagh Water Treatment Plant.

Uisce Éireann were fully supportive and these measures have now been implemented.

IFI, the State agency responsible for the protection and conservation of freshwater fish and habitats, says it will continue to inspect the plant to ensure that all recommendations have been followed.

Further to these preventative measures, Uisce Éireann has paid costs and a financial contribution of €15,000 to go towards research for habitat enhancement.

This will be used to identify the potential for a habitat restoration project in the upper Glore River and some of its tributaries.

This project will include a detailed survey of the Glore and possibly some adjacent sub-catchments, which will provide an analysis of current river and riparian habitat quality.

Where deficiencies are identified, appropriate amelioration works will be proposed to aid in the recovery of salmon stocks in the Glore River area.

A treatment plant that supplies drinking water to nearly half of Dublin’s population has been linked with significant environmental damage along its stretch of the River Liffey.

But due to a quirk in Ireland’s planning rules, the only agency with oversight of the Uisce Éireann (formerly Irish Water) facility at Ballymore Eustace is Kildare County Council.

As The Journal’s Noteworthy investigation into the matter reveals, the local authority has been accused of “turning a blind eye” to discharges from the plant, which have increased since the 1980s as the demand for water in the city has grown nearly four-fold.

Chemicals released from the plant settle on the river bed upstream of the Co Kildare village as the Liffey’s flow in these upper reaches is too weak to dilute them, says Tommy Deegan of the Ballymore Eustace Trout and Salmon Anglers’ Association.

A spokesperson for Uisce Éireann says “optimised” treatment processes at the plant result in discharges that are “naturally low in nutrients and organic carbon”, and that it “is not aware of any impacts to aquatic life as a result of this process”.

However, hight levels of aluminium have been detected in recent years in these waters, which have recorded “poor numbers” of brown trout and salmon compared to further downstream.

Moreover, the plant was found to have been noncompliant on a number of occasions in 2023, as Noteworthy reports — while Uisce Éireann was ordered to pay some €10,000 in fines and costs over a 2022 pollution incident in the area that was successfully prosecuted by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) last year.

The Journal has much more on the story HERE.

Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) has welcomed the outcome of a case it brought against Uisce Éireann involving sewage pollution of the Cavan town river.

A fine of €2,000, plus costs and expenses of €3,197, were imposed at a hearing on the matter at Cavan District Court on Friday 1 December.

It comes after IFI had previously secured prosecution in October against the State water utility for pollution of the Ballinagh River in Co Cavan which killed 160 fish.

The court heard that in the wake of ongoing issues at the Uisce Éireann wastewater treatment plant at Ballinagh, senior IFI fisheries environmental officer Ailish Keane had taken samples for analysis following the pollution event in Cavan town on 3 February this year.

These test samples, taken downstream from the plant, showed high levels of pollutants, with large amounts of sewage fungus — bacteria, fungus and algae that reduce oxygen levels — visible on the bed of the river.

Commenting on the verdict, Dr Milton Matthews, director of IFI’s North-Western River Basin District said: “We welcome the outcome in this case. The presence of sewage fungus in the river is indicative of chronic organic pollution of the Cavan town river at this location, rather than an isolated incident — with significant impact on fish, invertebrates and all aquatic life in the river.

“There were significant breaches of the licence emission limits for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) — oxygen required to break down organic matter in the water — and high ammonia levels.

“Sample results taken at the location indicated that ammonia levels were over 115 times higher than permitted discharge limits, and eight times higher than permissible for BOD limits as stipulated for this treatment plant.”

The conviction was secured under Section 171 of the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act 1959 — legislation regarding protection of fishing waters from harmful pollutants.

Members of the public are encouraged to report instances of water pollution, illegal fishing, habitat destruction or fish kills to IFI’s confidential number at 0818 34 74 24.

Islanders on Inis Oírr are being shipped water several times a day, even during this period of heavy rainfall across Ireland.

As The Sunday Independent reports, Uisce Éireann has not yet resolved the island’s water shortage issues.

The island co-op has sought a long-term solution for well over a decade, amid growing frustration over the apparent lack of a strategy and large expenditure by the State on short-term solutions.

The southernmost Aran island, which has a population of 340 people, has long suffered from shortages due to lack of groundwater sources.

For well over a decade, it has experienced regular droughts due to relatively low rainfall, and the difficulty of drilling wells that are not contaminated by seawater.

Visitor numbers can reach several thousand during the tourist season, which is now running well into October, and this has put a strain on existing supply.

A hydrogeological study conducted in 2015 proposed capturing excess winter rainfall to ease the summer shortages.

A plan was drawn up to install raw storage tanks, which would then require planning permission. Large areas of the Aran islands are protected under the EU Habitats Directive.

It is understood that Uisce Éireann and Galway County Council had sought land, and tendered for up to three storage tanks, but islanders then heard that this plan was abandoned on cost grounds.

Resident Paddy Crowe said while everyone is happy that water is being delivered, there is a question mark over a long term plan.

“Shipments are expensive, and wouldn’t money be better spent on a long-term cure?” he said.

Uisce Éireann will not divulge the cost of the shipments, stating that “this is commercially sensitive information”.

It said that specialised maintenance works to resolve an issue at the Inis Oírr water treatment plant are scheduled for the week after next, November 6th.

Read The Sunday Independent here

An Taisce’s Clean Coasts programme and Uisce Éireann have launched their Think Before You Flush campaign for 2023, reminding people to the mindful of what we should and should’t put down our toilets.

In Cork city last week, as the Cork Independent reports, Lord Mayor Deirdre Forde signed the Think Before You Flush pledge — which you can also sign yourself at thinkbeforeyouflush.org — supporting the annual campaign which focuses on understanding the impact of flushing sewage-related waste and how to dispose of such waste properly.

Margaret Attridge of Uisce Éireann added: “Every day thousands of unsuitable items are flushed down toilets across Ireland instead of being put in the bin.”

Flushing unsuitable items such as baby wipes or cotton buds can result in blockages or even in such waste littering Ireland’s coastal beaches and inland waterways.

This waste is the third largest category of beach litter and can pose a danger to marine wildlife, the campaign says.

The Cork Independent has more on the story HERE.