Over the past couple of years, residents and business owners in the town of Kiltimagh have called for more to be done to improve the water quality of the Pollagh River, with the local Angling Club arguing that fish stocks are being depleted by the pollution.

However, though several politicians have put forward plans for a new waste water treatment plant, as of yet, these have not been followed up on, with local councillor Colin Murray now revealing that Mayo County Council has come up with a range of excuses for not providing money for such a scheme.

“It is simply outrageous that the people of Kiltimagh have to come up with Euro four million as part of their contribution to the roll out of a water and sewerage scheme for the town,” he told the Mayo News.

“Meanwhile, similar schemes in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Westport were funded exclusively from the Exchequer and the EU without any local contribution been sought.”

Under the latest plans, Kiltimagh is to get a privately-built and run sewerage plant where local water supplies will be treated to EU standards, the report added.

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