Raw sewage overflows in Cork docklands following pumping station failure
Flooding has affected roads near the pond, and the public is advised to avoid the area. Picture: Larry Cummins
The River Lee is being monitored after thousands of litres of raw sewage flooded streets in Cork’s south docklands after equipment failure at a critical piece of the city’s wastewater system.
The incident at the Uisce Eireann-operated Atlantic Pond wastewater pumping station on Tuesday night also led to three discharges of material into the River Lee - two in the city centre.
But Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) said there were no reports or evidence of any fish killed.
"Due to recent inclement weather, water flows in the River Lee’s north and south channels are high, which has diluted the discharges," a spokesman said.
"IFI continues to liaise with Uisce Eireann's incident management team. IFI personnel will continue to monitor the situation."
Uisce Eireann is also liaising with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the matter.
Tankers, which were deployed in the area soon after the incident came to light at around 7pm on Tuesday, remained in the area on Wednesday to suction the material on the streets.
A temporary bypass of the pumping station has also been introduced to ensure that the raw sewage can still make it to the main wastewater treatment plant at Carrigrennan in Little Island.
A spokesman for Uisce Eireann described the equipment failure as a mechanical failure linked to an intake at the Atlantic Pond wastewater pumping station, which accepts huge volumes of waste generated in the city centre island area.
The materials flows via gravity through a huge three metre diameter pipe, which runs under Monahan Road.
However, the mechanical failure at the Atlantic Pond facility led to a massive back-up of sewage in the pipe, which then forced its way up through service chambers and manholes, onto the roads above.
IFI said the incident resulted in discharges via stormwater overflows to the River Lee on the Grand Parade, Coal Quay and Tivoli.
The flooding led to the closure of Monahan Road and parts of Centre Park Road following consultation with Cork City Council and An Garda Siochána.
Damien Twohig, who runs Soma Coffee and the Black Market on Monahan Road, said the road closures restricted access to the market's Soma Coffee branch, which opens at 9am, before the other food outlets open at noon.
But he said flooding is not unusual on the road, and that businesses and offices regularly face street flooding and access issues during certain weather and tidal conditions.
"What was different about this is the material involved. It was fairly smelly water alright," he said.
"But to be honest, we've had worse.
"If weather is bad and tide is high, we get flooding. Something needs to be done about that in the long term."
Crews were deployed in the area on Tuesday night to deal with the immediate flooding incident and they remained in the area on Wednesday to mitigate the impact of any overflows.
Uisce Éireann said its incident management team is liaising with the EPA and Cork City Council in relation this incident.
“Uisce Éireann’s priority is to protect public health and safety and minimise harm to the environment. Further updates will be provided as they become available,” a spokesman said.
The Atlantic Pond wastewater pumping station was built as part of the city’s massive main drainage scheme in the 1990s which was designed to end the discharge of sewage into the river Lee by creating two separate systems – one to collect the city’s foul or wastewater, and the other to collect its storm water.
The wastewater generated in vast areas of the city centre has since then flowed via a large pipe to the Atlantic Pond pumping station, from where it’s pumped to a header chamber at Ballinure, where solids are removed, before the material is pumped under Lough Mahon to the wastewater treatment plant at Carrigrennan in Little Island.
