Our waterways are in crisis. Only about 1% of Ireland’s rivers and streams are pristine; down from nearly 15% in the 1980s. Despite a legal obligation to achieve “good” status for our waterways by 2027, we’ve hovered around only 55% of waterways at this status since 1987. The targets aren’t just to keep within EU…
Category: Wastewater
What is the Most Eco-friendly Sanitation System?
So let’s assume that we want clean water leaving our home or business. That’s pretty much a given.Within that context we need a sewage or sanitation system that works well, but we also want to gofurther. The two main steps beyond conventional sewage options are zero energy inputs andadditional benefits for the environment in terms…
Willows are a Win-Win
First published in Horticulture Connected on August 24, 2023 Mopping up sewage pollution, sequestering carbon and promoting biodiversity – willow wastewater systems are the solution we need for one-off houses in the countryside. WORDS: Féidhlim Harty. We seem to be on a whole suite of collision courses, including housing, climate, biodiversity and water pollution. Many…
Interview on Heart to Hearth: Chats about Irish Vernacular Buildings
Click here to hear the podcast December 26th, 2022 | 44:35 Episode Summary In this episode, we chat with Feidhlim Harty. Feidhlim is an environmental consultant based in County Clare. In today’s chat, we look at some sustainable solutions for treating waste water from rural domestic buildings, and chat about Feidhlim’s own experiences renovating a…
Looking at climate change through the lens of water
Interview with Bridget Ginnity in the Clare Champion July 17th 2022 (link below). Féidhlim Harty, director of an environmental consultancy company tells Bridget Ginnity, how being a bad windsurfer led him to specialising in reed bed system design and other eco-friendly sewage options. Feidhlim Harty at his farm pond where he grows wetland plants and…
Willow-Planted Percolation Areas
The following downloadable document is a pdf of an article on sewage treatment written in 2019 for Permaculature Magazine entitled: “Cleaning Effluent with Plants – Feidhlim Harty explains how to clean up household effluent with willow in special percolation areas rather than wasting nutrients and polluting groundwater.”
Permaculture sewage treatment – first aid and future -proofing for our rivers and seas
First published by the Permaculture Association (https://www.permaculture.org.uk/articles/permaculture-sewage-treatment-first-aid-and-future-proofing-our-rivers-and-seas). Well actually, it wasn’t in the hay barn, nor with a broken roof tile. But Ophelia is guilty for something alright. The recent storms downed electricity lines around Ireland and the UK. One of the impacts was an interruption to sewage treatment systems. So what? Not as important…
Sustainable Water Use
Published for Feasta on 19th Sept 2014 (https://www.feasta.org/2014/09/19/sustainable-water-use/) Like many things in modern life, the vast majority of our current water and wastewater infrastructure is completely dependant upon fossil energy to keep the toilets flushed and the taps running. Even the word “wastewater” itself assumes that we have no better use for the water that…