Since the Ringsend Wastewater Treatment Works was opened in June 2003 there have been intermittent odour problems with the Works which have given rise to complaints from local residents. Some of the odour complaints related to teething problems following the commencement of operations, and these have been substantially resolved. Other odour problems were dealt with by the installation of additional odour control equipment prior to the summer of 2004, which did result in some improvement to the situation over that of summer 2003.

Dublin City Council accepts that there are still odour control issues at the Works which must and will be resolved. We are working actively with the Contractor, the ABA Consortium, to resolve the outstanding issues. As part of this process, Dublin City Council have engaged international consultants Camp Dresser McKee (CDM) to carry out a comprehensive independent review of the odour control systems at Ringsend, and to recommend measures to resolve the odour control problems once and for all. The review by CDM is in progress and their draft report will be available at the end of June. In the meantime the Contractor ABA is required to manage and operate the Works to ensure that unacceptable odour emissions are eliminated, or reduced to the absolute minimum, so as not to inconvenience local residents.

The review by CDM will recommend further measures to be carried out at the Ringsend Works to resolve outstanding odour issues. Dublin City Council is committed to carrying out whatever measures are necessary in cooperation with the Contractor, in the shortest possible time.

The Ringsend Treatment Works is an advanced plant incorporating innovative technologies resulting in a high quality effluent from the Works, which has very positive benefits for Dublin Bay. Ongoing analysis of the water, and indeed visual evidence of swimmers, divers, sailors and other users of the Bay, all confirm that the water quality in Dublin Bay has improved very significantly. Dublin Bay has been awarded two Blue Flags for 2005, Dollymount and Seapoint.
We very much regret that, despite these positive developments, there have been odour emissions from the plant which have caused nuisance to local residents. Whatever needs to be done to resolve the problem will be done, in the shortest possible time.

There has been media coverage recently regarding plans to expand the Ringsend Treatment Works. It was intended from the start that the Works would be built in two phases. The EIS for the Works, published in 1997, indicated that treatment capacity could be updated by the installation of additional reactor tanks and equipment provided sufficient land was made available. The Contract documents, prepared in 1998, provided for an area of 0.8 Hectare to be reserved for future construction of works to treat additional flows related to the ultimate design year (2040).

The Assessment of Needs Study approved by the City Council in 2003 included the Ringsend Treatment Works Expansion. In May 2004 the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government published their Water Services Investment Programme (2004-2006) which again includes the Ringsend Treatment Works Expansion.

It is intended that the odour problems at the existing Works will be resolved before the expansion of the Works on the reserved 0.8 Hectare area is commenced.

Battie White
Deputy City Engineer
June 9th 2005