Commitment made to upgrade Murrough pumping station next year

By Hugh O'Farrell Walsh, The Wicklow People

Uisce Éireann has committed to carrying out upgrade works at the Murrough pumping station in Wicklow town in early 2026.

The move comes after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) carried out an audit of both the Greystones and Wicklow town wastewater treatment plants in January of this year and recommended that independent monitoring of the facilities take place to properly assess the extent of the odour problem and identify the necessary corrective actions.

At a recent meeting of the Public Accounts Committee, Sinn Féin TD for Wicklow John Brady, who also chairs the committee, questioned Margaret Attridge, head of water operations at Uisce Éireann, who confirmed upgrade works on the plant at the Murrough will go ahead in the new year.

“Since quarter 1 of 2025, we have been surveying that just to track the odour levels at the treatment plant. The plant is operating within the original design capacity. However, there are upgrade works that can be done to improve it.”

“As regards those upgrade works, following the survey, we have identified the capability of the pumping station to deal with it. Those upgrade works will commence in quarter 1 of 2026 for the Murrough.”

Ms Attridge said some upgrade works were needed at the plant in Greystones.

“Some of that work has been progressed and we have seen a notable reduction in odours for quarter 2 and quarter 3 in 2025. We will continue to monitor it.”

“We are also working back through the network. Our source control team is looking at what is discharging into the network that is contributing to the odours.” she added.

In response Deputy Brady said it was important the issues are rectified quickly.

“They have been going on now for several years in terms of the negative experience, not just in Greystones, a highly residential area, but also in the Murrough, which is an area of high public amenity and a special area of conservation.”

“I have, unfortunately, had to go down the route of referring them to the EPA because of serious ongoing issues in terms of severe levels of really bad odours, above and beyond what would be expected.”

The committee chair also referenced the 1,080 short-duration or once-off incidents at wastewater treatment plants last year, with a number of those registered in Wicklow.

“There was one frustrating case at Corke Abbey, a pumping station that, unfortunately, I had been reporting over a three-day period at Christmas time before action was taken. The mechanisms within that pumping station failed. There was no alerting system activated, or it failed, which is quite concerning.”

Seán Laffey, asset management and sustainability director with the utility, says there is no viable excuse for what happened.

“We are very aware that our predictive and planned maintenance activities really need to be upped. We have started that process now, since we are finally bringing the staff into Uisce Éireann.

“We also need to make sure that our operational mechanisms, the reporting mechanisms, are actually fully embedded in the operational staff.” he added.