Council has spent €63,000 on removing sludge from ‘foul smelling’ estate

Donegal County Council has spent more than €63,000 on removing sludge from a sewage treatment plant at a housing estate where residents are experiencing “an ongoing foul smell”.

The council says it has spent €63,301 since 2017 on removing almost 5,000 tonnes of sludge from the treatment plant at the Ash Meadows estate in Stranorlar.

The figure was supplied to the May meeting of the Lifford-Stranorlar Municipal District in a reply to a question submitted by Cllr Patrick McGowan.

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The council says it has insufficient funds to complete the work required at the estate and Irish Water is responsible for funding any works required to repair the water service infrastructure.

The local authority says it is in ongoing discussions with Irish Water about such estates and hopes that a plan for Ash Meadows will be agreed before the end of July with works then expected to begin before the end of the year.

Cllr McGowan said residents in the Drumboe area are experiencing an ongoing foul smell and expressed concern at the expenditure saying the amount spent would have  “built and upgraded a treatment plant”.