The septic tank inspection scheme had been no more than mentioned those few years ago when there were ‘men in vans’ touring the countryside posing as inspectors.
We know now from Cllr. John Joe Culloty’s motion and communique that the inspections are well under way. The news isn’t good from an environmental point of view and certainly not from the point where householders with tanks in their acres are concerned.
At this month’s Kerry County Council Meeting, Cllr. Culloty put forward the following motion:-
“To ask this Council: (A) How many septic tank inspections have been carried out? (B) how many of those inspected have failed? and (C) what are the main causes of failure?”
The Results of the Tests:
62% of septic tanks failed inspection. Up to April 8th, 55 domestic waste water treatment systems in the county had been inspected by Kerry County Council, and 34 of these, comprising 62% of the total, had been found to be non-compliant.
The figures were provided to councillors on foot of a request for the information, by Cllr John Joe Culloty.
The principal reasons for failure were clean water entry into the units (10), de-sludging (7), grey water discharge (6), black water discharge (7), ponding of effluent (2) and others (2)
Cllr Culloty said that de-sludging and clean water entry issues could be rectified in advance of inspections, if people were aware of them. He asked that an awareness campaign, advertising this, should be undertaken.
