Delayed Enfield sewer system gets green light

Work on completing Enfield"s new sewerage system is expected to go ahead in February of next year after a delay of almost two years following the discovery of petrol contamination in the area. An environmental report on the hydrocarbon pollution in Enfield was given to Trim Area Councillors at their recent monthly meeting and councillors were told that the works would proceed early next year. The discovery of the contamination has meant that the remaining sewerage main could not be laid down and works could not proceed until the contamination was investigated. Enfield county councillor William Carey said that the hydrocarbon contamination affects the area from the Edenderry junction to 200m east of the junction. Cllr Carey said: '(Council officials) Tim O"Leary and Brendan McGrath outlined the problem with the contamination they discovered. It is bad enough but, fortunately, it is not affecting any of the water supply. 'Now that they have identified exactly where it is, they can proceed with laying the final part of the sewerage main. We are hoping that work can start on that in February. They may need to change the way they dig and they may have to tunnel to prevent the contaminated water getting into the watercourse,' he added. He added that tunnelling was the 'logical conclusion' though it would mean an extra cost to Meath County Council but said that 'when they find the original source of the contamination, this was where the liability would stop'. The Enfield FG councillor said: 'We are waiting a long time to be told it can go ahead. It is two years being held up. We can"t resurface the street until this work is finished. This means the resurfacing of the whole main street from the Trim junction to the GAA field has been held up by over two years. It"s very rough and a source of great annoyance to try to keep the potholes filled. But, all going well, we should get the street surfaced next summer.' He said the hold-up meant that traffic control and pedestrian road-markings also could not be done and that if they went ahead with these markings and came along in 12 months" time and dug it up, 'people would not be pleased'. Cllr Carey said the problem arose as the water table is only between six and eight feet deep and they need to dig to 15 feet to lay the pipe. He said that digging under the water table would mean that water would seep into the trenches and that it would get into the existing water source, contaminate it and eventually end up in the rivers. Because of this, they would need to tunnel, he said. Cllr Carey added that the delay in the sewerage works had caused 'enormous expense' to one builder who has had to mechanically remove the sewerage from two estates which is costing a lot of money.