Irish Water is to invest a total of €1.3million in flow monitoring and performance sampling equipment in wastewater treatment plants across County Cork.

The project will also allow Irish Water to identify where investment is needed in the wastewater infrastructure to facilitate future development in the county's towns and villages.

The investment makes critical wastewater flow and load data available on a consistent basis for the first time ever, helping to improve the performance of the treatment plants while also helping protect the waterways into which treated wastewater is discharged. When it is completed, plant operators and engineers will have the data and tools to enable them to better manage the treatment processes, measure performance and react quicker to any sudden changes such as a storm event.

The Cork County Flow Monitoring and Sampling programme is already underway. Once the design phase is complete, flow measurement devices, storm event recorders and sampling equipment will be installed at approximately 46 wastewater treatment plants around the county. This project will also ensure compliance with EPA Wastewater Discharge Authorisations with respect to monitoring and sampling requirements.

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The project is being rolled out under a national flow monitoring and sampling programme where approximately €10m is being invested across 400 wastewater treatment plants of varying sizes to comply with EPA licence requirements. This will help build flow and load profiles which in turn will help form strategies for upgrading, maintaining, improving plant efficiencies and ensuring we identify early where investment is required to meet future demands on wastewater infrastructure.

Fianna Fáil TD for Cork East, Kevin O'Keeffe welcomed the decision by Irish Water.

He said: "This is the Cork element of a nationwide project designed to enhance protection of our rivers and coastal waters.

"Understanding our water system better will allow us improve the treatment of waste water ultimately leading to cleaner water for everyone.

"No one has ever disputed the critical need to invest in our water system. That has been clear for some time. Fianna Fáil disagreed though with the rush to spend hundreds of millions on a billing system; money that should have been spent on upgrading our water system.

"1.6 billion Litres of wastewater is collected and treated every day before being returned to the water system. This monitoring and sampling of Cork’s wastewater is crucial to improving the quality of everyone's water.

"As our towns and village grow over the next decade, we need a water system that is fit for purchase, and this sampling scheme is the first step in preparing for that growth."

(CD/MH)