Archived press release

Suits scolded over sewage shame

30 January 2003

Friends of the Earth today presented Water Service [1] with a birthday cake in the shape of a toilet to mark the tenth anniversary of their commitment to build a sewage treatment works for Larne. Ten years later, raw sewage [2] from thousands of homes is being pumped into Larne Lough because the promised works has never been built.

Speaking as she made the award, Sharon Morrow of Larne Friends of the Earth said Water Service was in breach of pollution legislation designed to protect public health and the environment:

"This is not just disgusting, it's also illegal. If private citizens polluted a river or sea they could expect to be prosecuted but Northern Ireland’s biggest polluter is in fact a branch of Government and they cannot be prosecuted because of crown immunity."

Although no prosecution is possible in the domestic courts, the European Commission has the power to impose huge fines when European legislation is breached [3] and the Larne campaigners have made a complaint to the Commission in the hope that the threat of fines will prompt Water Service to act.

Ms Morrow continued:

"Europe is taking a very dim view of the Northern Ireland’s failure to comply with sewage pollution law and their patience is running out. Our Regional Development minister Angela Smith ought to switch funds out of her roads budget into sewerage infrastructure, in order to avoid these hefty fines."

Notes

[1] (back) The presentation was made at Water Service Headquarters, Northland House, 3 Frederick Street, Belfast.

[2] (back) The sewage discharge at Larne is untreated: there is no treatment plant, just a discharge pipe. Water Service's own data show that, despite a statutory upper limit on Biological Oxygen Demand of 50mg per litre of discharge, the readings for 2002 were as follows:

14/01/2002 411.00 FAIL
05/02/2002 60.40 FAIL
06/03/2002 170.50 FAIL
11/04/2002 245.20 FAIL
10/05/2002 177.70 FAIL
08/06/2002 121.20 FAIL
07/07/2002 281.20 FAIL
05/08/2002 183.60 FAIL
10/09/2002 36.00 PASS
02/10/2002 240.50 FAIL
07/11/2002 81.00 FAIL

[3] (back) Water Service is in breach of the European Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive which requires sewage from all but the smallest settlements to receive ‘secondary treatment’ before being discharged into a watercourse.

Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland
7 Donegall Street Place
BELFAST
BT1 2FN
Tel: 028 9023 3488
Fax: 028 9024 7556
Email: foe-ni@foe.co.uk.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust