EPA Waste Water Discharge Licences

 
Sligo County Council has a total of 31 Wastewater Treatment Plants throughout the County. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) www.epa.ie, under the 2007 Wastewater Discharge (Authorisation) Regulations, oversees the discharges from these facilities through the issuing of Discharge Licences and Certificates of Authorisation. Licences are required for larger discharges of >500 population equivalent (p.e.) and Certificates of Authorisation are required for smaller discharges (<500 p.e.).

By the spring of 2010, Sligo County Council had applied for all Licences and Certificates of Authorisation as required under the legislation.

As of August 2011, 5 Nr licenses for wastewater treatment facilities have been received with 11 Nr still awaited. 15 Nr Certificates of Authorisation for the smaller facilities have been received.

The application fees to the EPA for these 31 Licences and Certificates, has cost Sligo County Council €325,000.

The annual contribution for the 5 licences that have been issued up to August 2011 amounts to €20,636.

Below is a summary of the Licence and Certificate applications, submitted to the EPA. Full details of the applications and correspondence relating to each are available on the EPA website www.epa.ie. PDF versions of the EPA Licenses and Certificates can be downloaded by clicking on the links below.

Annual Environmental Reports

Annual Environmental Reports (AER’s) on Sligo’s EPA licensed wastewater treatment plants are being prepared in accordance with the license conditions and the requirements of:

• SI 123 of 2007, the Pollutant Release and Transfer Regulations – which requires reporting of annual releases (Emissions) by Operators of all such EPA licensed wastewater treatment plants.

The treatment plants serving Sligo Town and Environs (view photo), Enniscrone (view photo) and Ballisodare (view photo) were the first 3 within the County to be issued with licenses back in 2010. The full AER’s for the year 2010 prepared for each of these facilities can be viewed on-line by clicking on the relevant link in the table above.

Public Awareness and Communication Programme

Sligo County Council has put in place a Public Awareness and Communications Programme in relation to wastewater treatment plants and their discharges within the County. It is our policy to ensure that members of the public can obtain, at all reasonable times, environmental information relating to the discharges from our licensed facilities.

Environmental information such as effluent monitoring results, reports, complaints received and details of any incidents are available for public viewing by appointment at the offices of Sligo County Council, Operation and Maintenance Department, Old Jail, St Annes Place, Sligo (Telephone 071 9111373).

Sligo County Council welcomes all interested parties; in particular individuals and groups from the local community, who wish to avail of guided and supervised tours of any of the licensed waste water treatment plants. All site visits must be arranged in advance with the Operation and Maintenance Department of Sligo Water Services (Telephone 071 9111373).