Environmental Campaigns

Waterford City and County Council reminds owners of septic tanks and other small waste water treatment plants that regular maintenance of the system can prevent longer term problems.

14,000 houses in Co. Waterford rely on a septic tank or other domestic waste water treatment system to treat the sewage from their homes and businesses. Timely maintenance of these systems is vital to ensure they operate efficiently and can prevent more costly repairs being required in the longer term.

Eamonn Morrissey, Senior Executive Scientist in Waterford City and County Council said, “Desludging septic tanks and other treatment systems is vital to ensure they continue to work optimally. Solids which are flushed down the toilet end up in the septic tank, with the liquids going into the percolation area to be broken down by bacteria. If the solids are not removed from the septic tank regularly, they can end up blocking the percolation area and this can mean a new percolation area may need to be dug.”

He added, “Malfunctioning percolation systems can lead to polluted water ponding on the surface of peoples gardens and potentially polluting their drinking water wells.”

The recommended frequency of desludging depends on the size of the septic tank or waste water treatment system and the number of people using it.

The table below shows how many years are recommended between desludging.

If you are unsure of the size of your tank, you should use the figure for 2.5m³.

More details on septic tanks and how to maintain them, including a list of companies permitted to desludge them can be found on Waterford City and County Council’s website at https://waterfordcouncil.ie/services/water-services/water-quality/septic-tanks/

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Waterford City and County Council reminds farmers Low Emission Slurry Spreading (LESS) equipment must be used for the application of slurry on holdings with grassland stocking rates of 100 kg nitrogen per hectare or above from grazing livestock manure.

These new restrictions were brought in under the European Union (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) Regulations 2022, which are more commonly known as the GAP regulations.

Adam James, Agricultural Inspector with Waterford City and County Council said that the adoption of LESS equipment for slurry spreading will reduce the negative impacts associated with slurry spreading on the environment and people in the community.

He highlighted the importance of farmers considering the ground and weather conditions to avoid the loss of valuable fertilisers. “All farmers will want to achieve the best value for money, from the use of their fertilisers.  Spreading fertiliser on land prior to heavy rain or on waterlogged fields, will result in the fertiliser running off into watercourses or being lost to groundwater.  This has the double whammy of the fertiliser not being available to encourage plant growth as well as causing pollution in nearby streams and rivers.

“At this time of year, a lot of land is still quite saturated, so farmers should select land which is dry (relatively free draining) and away from surface waters or land drains to receive slurry, if possible, and if not possible extra consideration must be given to buffer distances,” adding, “the slope of fields is also a factor in fertiliser loss, if the ground slopes steeply, factors such as surface runoff pathways, the presence of land drains, the absence of hedgerows to mitigate surface flow, soil condition and ground cover can contribute to fertiliser not staying where the farmer intended.”

Mr James further highlighted the importance of farmers understanding the nutrient requirements of individual parcels of land prior to the application of fertiliser.  “Farmers should work with their agricultural advisors, check their nutrient management plans or soil test results, and consider the Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K) requirements before applying slurry.  Applying excess slurry to fields does not result in better plant growth, all the extra fertiliser is just lost, either through leaching to groundwater or runoff to watercourses.” 

He also pointed out that leaching of fertilisers to groundwater in vulnerable areas can also affect the quality of drinking water for people with wells nearby concluding, “It’s important for farmers to think about the health of their families and neighbours, when spreading fertiliser and to specially make sure that buffer distances to wells are maintained.”

Waterford has emerged as Ireland’s second Cleanest City in the Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) Anti-Litter League, with Galway replacing Waterford as the cleanest city.

Waterford city ranked 16^th out of 40 cities and towns and was classed as Clean to European norms.

Waterford City continues to score very well in the IBAL litter league, and this was very much helped along by seventeen out of the twenty-four sites surveyed getting the top litter grade and there were no litter blackspots.

The report also cited that the ‘road from Waterford City to the Dog Pound no longer had heavy levels of litter present and was very much deserving of the top litter grade’, while the Greenway Car Park & environs were noted as having a ‘complete absence of litter throughout the survey area.

Some of the other sites that were awarded Grade A include the People’s Park, O’Connell Street, the Medieval Quarter, John Robert’s Square (Barronstrand St./Broad Street) and the Riverwalk from The Tower Hotel to Rice Bridge.

Ballybeg achieved an excellent result and went from being classed as Clean to European norms to a Cleaner than European norms classification in this most recent survey. 

Top grades were awarded to Ardmore Terrance, Ballybeg Drive Roundabout, BRILL Family Resource Centre, St. Saviour’s GAA, Tesco Deposit Return Scheme, and Ballybeg Stores & environs.

Ella Ryan, Environmental Awareness Officer with Waterford City and County Council welcomed the IBAL league results, saying “While we are disappointed to have slipped from the top spot, the number of sites receiving the top grade remains consistent, with Ballybeg performing extremely well.

“The city was surveyed during a busy and festive time as Winterval was in full swing, and while there were some litter spots, the survey noted that some heavily littered sites in previous IBAL surveys had improved.

“We’d like to pay tribute to the Council’s Cleansing team, volunteer clean-up groups, schools and the local communities for working to keep Waterford a clean, attractive place to live, work and invest in.”

The survey also revealed a near -50% fall in the prevalence of plastic bottles and cans in the 500-plus sites monitored since the Deposit Return Scheme was introduced last year.

Conor Horgan of IBAL said, “We are definitely seeing cans and bottles disappear from our streets, which is very welcome – not only are they unsightly, but the bottles contribute to the very real problem of plastic pollution. However, it is clear from our survey that people continue to discard a wide range of litter types with flagrant disregard for their surroundings.”

Sweet wrappers and fast-food wrappers were the most common litter types, ahead of plastic bags and coffee cups, which were present in over 20% of sites.

Ryan added, “While Waterford City and County Council will continue to introduce new environmental awareness initiatives, we would also encourage the owners of private sites to ensure there are adequate bins in place so coffee cups, plastic bottles, plastic bags, fast food wrappers, mineral cans and sweet wrappers can be disposed of properly.”

Details of the most recent Irish Business against Litter Survey can be found at www.ibal.ie/anti-litter-league