The Environmental Protection Agency has been urged to refuse to sanction plans for a sewage treatment plant in a rural area on the edge of Blacksod Bay in northwest Mayo.

The plan to build a 5 million euro new sewerage treatment plant and outfall pipe at Corclogh, Blacksod Bay are at an advanced stage and has been approved by Mayo County Council but the Blacksod Bay Protection Association , a group made up of local residents believe it’s the wrong location. The proposed facility will be in a Special Area of Conservation, a Special Protection Area for wildlife and a commercial shellfish growing area.

The raw sewage from the population of about 3,000 people living in the town of Belmullet and its environs is discharged untreated into the adjacent Broadhaven Bay at present.

Environmental consultant, Jack O’Sullivan of Environmental Management Services is acting for the Blacksod Bay Protection Association. He told Midwest News today that everyone appreciates the need for a sewerage system for Belmullet. But insists that Corclough is not the right location for the new facility as it’s a special area of conservation and protection for wildlife and shellfish.

Mayo county council has applied to the EPA for a license to discharge waste water at the proposed site. A decision on that application is due on November 22^nd.

Mayo County secretary John Condon said the proposed project had gone through a rigorous planning process. Saying “it has already been passed at the planning level and we have now submitted our technical reports to the EPA in support of our application for a licence. We would not have applied unless we thought the site was suitable.”