Services: Water & Sewerage
Achill Sound Sewerage Treatment Plant
Water & Sewerage Service
In 2011 Mayo County Council will continue to ensure that the quality of drinking water and the quality of waste water discharging into our waterways will be of the highest possible quality and in compliance with the extensive suite of national and European regulations.
The onerous demands of the Polluter Pays Principle, which requires Mayo County Council to pay an average of 30% of the capital cost of major schemes means that the principle will have a very significant impact on the Council's ability to deliver on the Water Services Investment Programme.
In 2010 Mayo County Council borrowed €6.20m in order to meet current capital commitments on sewerage schemes in Castlebar, Ballina, Achill Sound and Kiltimagh.
This will result in an increase in loan charges of €800,000 and presents Mayo County Council with no alternative but to increase water charges by 10% in 2011.
The charges for 2011 are as follows;
| 2011 | 2010 | |
| Water | €0.97/ cubic metre | €0.91 |
| Waste Water | €1.43/ cubic metre | €1.35 |
| Standing Charge | €125 | €125 |
Remedial Action List and EPA Audited Schemes
Countywide Water Conservation Project
Strategic Policy Committee for Water Supply and Sewage
Water Quality
It is imperative that the public has confidence in the drinking water provided by Mayo County Council.
In this regard Mayo County Council is developing a water quality management system incorporating source protection, risk management of supplies, measuring and publishing details of water quality and developing incident management plans for all of our supplies.
In 2011 water quality results will continue to be made available on the Council's website, Water Quality.
Water Supplies are independently tested for Mayo County Council by the Health Service Executive and other private accredited laboratories in accordance with a monitoring programme agreed with the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.).
This monitoring is carried out on a continuous basis and includes specific cryptosporidium monitoring. Mayo County Council will continue to work with the E.P.A. and Health Service Executive (H.S.E.) regarding the ongoing monitoring of water supplies.
Waste Water Quality
Under legislation introduced in 2007 Mayo County Council must apply to the EPA for licences or Certificates of Authorisation for all of our Waste Water Plants and this process is on-going.
It is a requirement of the licences issued to date that a Public Awareness & Communications Programme be set up, to advise the public of the availability of licence information for public inspection.
This is available at the following link: Wastewater Quality
Waste Water Discharge Licences
The current status of the application process is as follows:
Capacity of Waste Water
|
Waste Water Discharge
|
Number of
|
|---|---|---|
|
Greater than 10,000 |
3 |
3 Licences |
|
2,001 to 10,000 |
10 |
2 Licences |
|
1,001 to 2,000 |
8 |
2 Licences |
|
500 to 1,000 |
12 |
3 Licences |
|
Below 500 |
12 |
12 Certificates |
The application fees to the EPA for these 33 licences and 12 Certificates, has cost Mayo County Council €616,000.
The predicted annual contribution to the EPA for 2012 with respect to the 10 licences that have been issued to Mayo County Council amounts to €43,526.
Full details of the Waste Water Discharge Licence/Certificate of Authorisation Applications (WWDA) and the licences/certificates that have been issued are available on the EPA website www.epa.ie.
Additional Expenditure
The 2011 Budget includes for additional maintenance costs due to new or enlarged schemes.
The main increases for 2011 are as follows:
- Castlebar Wastewater Treatment Works
Upgrading and extension of the scheme to cater for the long-term (up to 2020 and beyond) requirements of Castlebar and its Environs. This is a Design Build and Operate contract.
The Scheme is now nearing completion. - Achill sound sewerage scheme
The scheme is nearing completion (November 2010). It's management and maintenance is part of a design build and operate scheme. - Ballina sewerage scheme Phase 2
This scheme is nearing completion. Its maintenance costs are factored into the 2011 budget. - Kiltimagh waste Water Treatment plant
This scheme will be operational in 2011 and maintenance costs will begin in 2011.
Remedial Action List and EPA Audited Schemes
In it's role as a supervisory authority under the 2007 Drinking Water Regulations the Environmental Protection Agency has audited three public water supplies in Mayo in 2010.
The EPA also has reduced the number of public water supplies on its Remedial Action List supplies from thirteen to eleven in 2010.
Compliance with EPA requirements involves additional expense on all of our RAL schemes.
Countywide Water Conservation Project
Phase 1 of this project was completed in 2007. Phase 2 commenced in 2009, with an estimated cost of €2.80 million.
This phase will carry out water conservation on the remaining water supply schemes in the county, but predominantly the Lough Mask Regional Water Supply Scheme.
To date significant savings in water volumes have been achieved. Phase 3 works which include all rehabilitation works are due to commence in 2011.
These works include the Wherrew rising main project in Ballina.
Energy Management
Mayo County Council tendered for its metered electricity to treatment plants and awarded a contract to Energia for 12 months from 01st June 2010 until 31st May 2011.
Because of the liberalisation of the market and the fact that ESB customer supply no longer have a monopoly on electricity Mayo County Council was in a position to benefit from a more dynamic and competitive market by moving over 250 accounts from ESB to our new supplier Energia.
This resulted in significant savings of approximately €300,000 on our metered accounts.
On October 1st 2010 a new PSO levy introduced by the Commissioner for Energy Regulation will result in Mayo County Council paying an additional €112,000 per annum on all metered electricity accounts.
All metered electricity accounts are monitored and assessed on a regular basis and we will continue to pursue savings and efficiencies by assessing energy consumption levels and switching accounts to different tariffs to ensure best value is achieved by the Council.
Asset Management
As the uninterrupted operation of our treatment plants is critical to the delivery of vital water and sewage services for the county, Mayo County Council operates an extensive preventative maintenance programme as well as necessary breakdown maintenance.
Preventative maintenance is carried out before breakdown or failure occurs, the maintenance is planned and carried out at specific intervals.
Predictive maintenance or condition monitoring requires the measurement of certain parameters of the equipment, such as vibration or temperature.
At pre-set levels, alarms are initiated allowing the equipment to be shut down and maintenance carried out.
This service is provided though the Council Machinery Yard.
Water Metering/Water Charges
2008 was the first year when all Non-Domestic customers were charged Water and Sewerage charges on a volumetric basis.
98% of non domestic customers are now metered with the remaining customers to be metered in 2011.
New customers are also coming on line with the take over of group water schemes throughout the county.
A dedicated office was set up in 2008 dealing solely with Water Services Charges and water conservation.
To date this office is processing 2000 bills per month.
Customers can now pay their Water Services Charges in any Mayo County Council office, or online where they can also monitor their water consumption.
It is required to increase water rates in 2011 by 10%.
The Council will review the domestic allowance which is currently set at 225 cubic metres per annum.
Strategic Policy Committee for Water Supply and Sewerage
The Committee consists of:
- Cllr. E. Lavin
- Cllr. J. O'Malley
- Cllr. R. Conway
- Cllr. T. Connolly
- Cllr. John O'Malley
- Cllr. A.F. O'Malley
- Cllr. B. Gavin
- Mr. J. O'Malley
- Mr. B. O'Mahoney
- Ms. Lucy Weir Bingham
- Mr. R. Gilboy
The Meetings for 2010 were held on: 22nd April, 2010; 30th July, 2010 and 21st October, 2010.
Matters considered by the Committee included the Water Services Investment Programme, Waste Water Licences, Rural Water Policy and Collection of Water Charges.
Water Services
Second Floor
Mayo County Council
Aras an Chontae
The Mall
Castlebar
Phone: (094)902 44 44
Email: WaterServices@mayococo.ie
Opening Hours: 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
and 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
