Irish Water warns of potential odours as maintenance of Ringsend treatment plants gets underway
Irish Water is warning about potential smells in Ringsend over the next few days as maintenance work gets underway at the wastewater treatment plant.
The company says the works are essential to reduce the risk of unpleasant aromas from the facility.
The Ringsend plant has been working over capacity for years and has to process about 40% of the entire country’s wastewater.
The facility serves the Greater Dublin Area and parts of Meath.
The plant has come under the spotlight in recent weeks following a number of overflows into Dublin Bay.
But John O'Donoghue - a regional manager with Irish Water - says there is nothing to worry about this time.
He said: "We're carrying out essential maintenance at the Ringsend wastewater treatment plant commencing today, in order to reduce the overall risk of odours on the plant.
"And this is a routine operation starting today and it will take approximately five days to complete."
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Ringsend facility is designed to treat the wastewater for around 1.64 million people.
However, figures say the load entering the plant comes from a population of more than 2 million.
Work has begun on a new €400m upgrade and extension to the plant with Mr O'Donoghue saying the project is progressing well.
"Work is ongoing there so I think in the next five or six years there will be major improvements in terms of the capacity of the plant and reduce the frequency of overflows in particular."
Irish Water has apologised in advance for any potential odours that arise while the work is being carried out.
