Rotting seaweed is causing a stink in Carrickfergus.
The issue was raised with NI Water officials after a presentation to Mid and East Antrim Borough Council’s Environment and Economy Committee on Monday.
DUP councillor Billy Ashe MBE that he did not want the seafront area to “become Smelly Corner”.
Last week, Mr Ashe told councillors that residents living near the seafront “have been complaining bitterly about the smell coming through the sewers”.
Meanwhile, open water swimmers have been travelling to locations such as Portmuck in Islandmagee to get away from Fisherman’s Quay.
Mr Ashe informed NI Water officials the storm drain at Fisherman’s Quay is “almost submerged under the beach and NI Water “has not seen fit to do anything about it”.
“This council has been picking up the problem for many years. We clean the beach on a regular basis and move sand from their pipe,” he said.
He claimed residents of Agnes Street do not use their gardens during the summer because of the smell coming from drainage and the shore in front of Marine Highway.
“There is something wrong when you need to take a deep breath until you get past it.”
David McCullough, NI Water’s head of waste water services, customer and operations directorate, said: “I know there is an issue around Fisherman’s Quay and the discharge pipe.”
During the presentation, the committee was given an update on planned investment in the water and waste water infrastructure in Mid and East Antrim during the current financial year,
These include
* a £2m sewer upgrade at Marine Highway,
* a project at Carrickfergus Waste Water Treatment Works costing £0.8m,
* a sewer upgrade at Greenisland storm overflows, £1.6m; and
* replacement of Lower Woodburn waste water pumping station, Carrickfergus, £1.8m.
The committee was told Northern Ireland’s waste water system is “at breaking point” and “can’t cope during heavy rainfall, so spills to the environment” with 40% “failing the standard”.
NI Water also stated: “The waste water system is contributing to poor quality of watercourses and requires several billion pounds to fix.”
Councillors were advised that without change, the waste water system faces “higher levels of pollution and severe constraint”.
They were also informed it costs £680m to deliver water services in Northern Ireland annually. There are more than 43,000 kilometres of water mains and sewers.
Commenting on outbreaks of blue/green algae in Lough Neagh, Dr Stephen Blockwell, head of the investment management, engineering and sustainability directorate, said it is caused by “high levels of nutrients in the lough”.
He went on to say Northern Ireland “needs to protect its water courses to reduce nutrients which can cause blue/green algae blooms and not overload the infrastructure”.
He stated that NI Water has been working in partnership with the Northern Ireland Environment Agency to “mitigate the impact on drinking water” and stressed it is safe to drink.
There have been “additional operational activities at water treatment works and effective maintenance of the multi-barrier system”, flushing out pipes across the network and additional drinking water quality sampling.
NI Water has acknowledged that customers may “notice a change in taste and odour” in the supply but stressed it is “safe to drink”.