The level of septic tank failure nation-wide has been deemed ‘concerning’ by an Environmental Protection Agency spokesperson.
Of the almost 1,400 inspected across the country last year more than half failed – in Carlow 20 inspections were carried out with a 45% failure rate while in Kilkenny 61 inspections were completed, 56% of those not passing.
Nationally 82% of failures between 2013 and 2024 were fixed by the end of last year – of the 47 systems in Carlow that fall into this category, 94% had been rectified by last December but just 67% of the 221 identified in Kilkenny had.
Programme Manager with the EPA, Noel Byrne, says “Over half of septic tanks failed inspection and that really is of concern; and really a faulty septic tank, you know, there are risks to the environment and to peoples’ health especially if you have a drinking water well on the same site as your septic tank and really these must be resolved by householders, 82% of all the septic tanks that failed inspection have been resolved and that’s up from 75% in the past two to three years”.
He adds; “The level of grant available to householders now if you fail a septic tank inspection has gone from €5,000 up to €12,000 and really that’ll nearly cover all the costs unless you have a very big job to do on your site and the requirement then to be preregistered for that grant back in 2013 has been removed”.
