From left: Lorraine Beirne and Dermot O’Kane. Image: John Ohle Photography
About 8pc of Dublin’s domestic properties have a pipeline misconnection which expels wastewater into nearby rivers.
In a bid to tackle water pollution, the South Dublin and the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Councils joined forces in 2021 and launched the Dublin Urban Rivers Life (DURL) project with the objective of fixing misconnected household pipelines, and thereby reducing the amount of polluted water that reaches nearby rivers.
Employing Esri Ireland’s geographic information system (GIS) – the ‘ArcGIS’ – the project has been able to fix approximately 91pc of pipeline misconnections in the area to date, preventing an estimated 14.5m litres of polluted wastewater from reaching Dublin rivers annually.
“On average, 8pc of domestic properties in Dublin have a misconnection and the DURL project has identified a misconnection rate of greater than 30pc in some housing estates,” said Lorraine Beirne, the DURL project co-ordinator.
Misconnections can happen when appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers, sinks and toilets are connected to the rainwater or stormwater drainage pipe instead of the sewage pipe, resulting in polluted water being discharged into local rivers and streams.
According to the latest figures from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), nearly half of the rivers under the South Dublin County Council’s jurisdiction and nearly a third under Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown are classified as of “poor” quality.
Moreover, data from the environment watchdog also shows that seven waterbodies in South Dublin are “significantly” affected by urban runoff – the biggest risk in the region, while three are affected with urban waste water. Meanwhile, two waterbodies in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown region are affected by urban runoff and urban wastewater.
Funded by the EU Life programme – a funding programme dedicated to environmental objectives – the DURL project locates and fixes misconnected household connections expelling waste into two catchments– the River Griffeen Catchment, and the Carrickmines Stream and Shanganagh River.
How does this work?
Digital mapping company Esri Ireland specialises in GIS applications, helping users record where things happen and analyse why. Using its ArcGIS system, the DURL team is able to view maps of the surface water drainage network on their mobile devices.
The on-site team lift manholes in residential areas, record signs of pollution in stormwater drains using the ArcGIS Survey123 app and upload their findings directly to a central dashboard.
Data is captured and shared in real time and all locations of pollution are instantly visible to office-based staff. The team can then identify the domestic properties that are associated with each polluted drain – using further geospatial analysis and satellite imagery.
According to Esri, the DURL project has assessed more than 8,700 homes to date, finding more than 1,050 misconnected appliances. Using the GIS system, the project’s rate of identifying misconnections has doubled, leading to a 50pc cost reduction.
Moreover, the team has also developed a ‘Lite’ version of the ArcGIS solution that can be used by other urban councils across Ireland and Europe as the basis for their own water quality improvement processes.
In a statement earlier this year, Briana Shiels, a project GIS officer at DURL, said: “The driver for the project is always the quality of the rivers. GIS enables us to find as many houses as possible with misconnected appliances, as efficiently as possible, to help Dublin’s rivers reach a good standard of water quality.”
While Dermot O’Kane, the head of sales at Esri Ireland, said: “This project is making a huge difference to the water quality and aquatic biodiversity in our Dublin rivers, making it an incredibly important project to work on.
“This technology is an efficient, digital process for inspecting suspected pollution which is easy to use and resulting in both cost and time savings for these county councils. We designed this solution with the future in mind, and we’re excited to see the technology being used elsewhere to improve the water quality for more rivers and waterways across Ireland and Europe.”
A recent UCC study found evidence of microplastics from clothing as far as 2km deep in the Atlantic Ocean. Their findings linked microplastics to waste water from washing machines.
And, an EPA report from earlier this year found high levels of nutrient pollution in a large portion of Ireland’s water bodies.
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