It is purely or maybe impurely coincidental, but at this time of the year in 2016 there was a stinking problem with raw sewage infiltration of the Mulaghi River and particularly from a storm drain at the town side of the first bridge on the Tralee Road.
That was at a time shortly after a Kerry County Council report found that:
“Water quality in the River Maine, downstream of Castleisland, is of an ‘unacceptable status’ as far as the water framework directive standards are concerned,”
This week, in early September 2024 a local man smelled, traced and filmed a scene at Tralee Road Bridge which mirrors exactly the situation there in 2016.
Rivers Don’t Come Clean from Towns
We know that it’s unlikely that any river anywhere comes completely clean from of its relationship with any town. However, the questionable quality of water in the River Maine on the western side of the town has been causing concern for some time.
A decade ago, an examining chemist said that the limestone nature of the area made it extremely difficult to trace pollution sources.
He said that the river, which is not used as a drinking water source, is monitored monthly at four locations and results from all four showed the water to be “less than good quality”, particularly for nutrients and ammonia.
Environmentally Horrifying
That report was researched and compiled in April 2014. Two years later a film clip from the Tralee Road Bridge in 2016 is horrifying from an environmental point of view.
At that time also it was thought to be incredible that just over two decades after the ultra modern Castleisland Sewerage Treatment Plant was opened, there is still raw sewage being released into local rivers, somehow, somewhere.
Over a week ago in early September 2024 a local man smelled, spotted and filmed a scene at Tralee Road Bridge which exactly mirrors the situation there from September 2016.
Investigation Ongoing
The situation is not going unheeded and an investigation is ongoing for the past couple of months. In the course of this investigation babies disposable nappies have been found floating down the Mulaghi tributary to the River Maine – a highly regarded salmonid designated river.
In the case of the film clip, the outfall is at the Castle View Drive estate side of the river. The estate, which backs onto the Mulaghi, is connected to the main sewerage system. Its neighbouring Riverside Drive connects to the main system in front of the former Browne’s Mineral Water plant.
These facts would appear to rule out everything but the storm water gates. They were inserted to relieve flooding in various areas of the town at the same time of the treatment works was being built and the new sewage system pipes were laid throughout the town.
Creamery Lane Outflow
The most visible of these storm drains is on the bank of the river walk at the bottom of Creamery Lane.
The puzzle of the raw sewage flowing into the Mulaghi on the Tralee Road must surely be: how is it still happening and where is it coming from.
There is no mistaking it. This is raw sewage and you can see that it contains paper and whatever else goes with it and there was a frightful stink from it.
The recent discovery of a nappy in the river downstream of the outflow puts it beyond doubt that there’s a mix-up in the functions of the network of drains beneath our feet, our footpaths and our streets.
The film here came from September 2016 when a similar outflow problem came to the attention of the locality on Tralee Road. https://youtu.be/yFQT6NpsAc0
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