Comeragh continues to battle with deficits in water infrastructure

The Comeragh municipal district still faces widespread water infrastructure deficits, according to local councillors.

In February’s Comeragh district meeting, Sinn Féin councillor Catherine Burke asked if Comeragh’s housing supply was being “adversely affected” by an inability to deliver water infrastructure to development sites.

Responding, Waterford City and County Council’s Director of Services for Housing Seamus De Faoite said that a development in Stradbally was struggling with water infrastructure.

While the development in Stradbally has faced no issues in relation to wastewater, water supply has left the development hamstrung.

“There is funding required,” said Mr De Faoite.

“There's a number of calls in relation to infrastructure funding… I can see the local authority applying for funding to pay for the infrastructure that's required to bring sufficient water for the developer in Stradbally. 

"From a housing perspective, we're nearly at the end of the food chain.”

Cllr Burke has also continually called for further Uisce Éireann investment in the coastal village of Bonmahon.

Bonmahon is a priority for RC (Revenue Control) five, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities spending plan. The plan is not due to come into effect until 2029.

“There's rural decline all over the place,” Cllr Burke said to the Waterford News & Star.

“Businesses are struggling. People are looking for houses, and they can't get houses because houses can't be built, because Uisce Éireann are not providing wastewater infrastructure.”

A 2025 EPA report into Bonmahon and the River Mahon was damning. 

The EPA observed “sludge-like solids and rags” being discharged into the River Mahon from the Bonmahon main septic tank, accompanied by a strong sewage odour.

“It appears that the Bonmahon septic tanks are providing little and insufficient treatment to the wastewater arising in this agglomeration,” the EPA wrote.

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