Mother nature has been working hard for the residents of Dunhill, a pleasant village of 400 people located beside the Anne Valley Walk in Co Waterford.
For a quarter of a century the village has been using the magical power of wetlands to deal with its domestic wastewater, clean it up and safely release it back into the nearby River Anne.
Wetlands in nature are great for cleaning dirty water by filtering out and removing high levels of nitrogen, phosphorous and other pollutants.
That was what people in Dunhill were looking for 25 years ago to stop wastewater from their village and local farms destroying their local River.
Since there was no natural wetland on their doorstep, they had to get Waterford City and County Council to build one.
It was the first integrated constructed wetland in the country.
Building it required some reshaping of the local river, expanding it into broad pools, and slowing it through grading slopes down the valley.
Wetland "cells" were planted with sedges and rushes while willow, alder and other trees that don't mind getting their roots wet, were planted on the riverside.
The result is a nature-based and sustainable wastewater treatment system that has been a huge success and served the people of the area ever since.
It is a perfect example of how everyone gains if a local community is willing to set aside significant space and time, and provide the habitat that nature needs to do its work.
Glaslough in Co Monaghan, Clonaslee in Co Laois and Lixnaw in Co Kerry have now built similar wetland systems to embrace nature’s low-cost and low-maintenance wastewater service.
Uisce Éireann’s Asset Operations Manager Keith Hamm said that just like with a traditional wastewater treatment plant, these nature-based systems work well as long as people don’t put the wrong stuff down the toilet.
"The three Ps - paper, poo and pee - are the only items that should enter the wastewater network in order for the system to work correctly and to prevent blockages and issues," he said.
Mr Hamm explained how the wetland works, which has now been developed into the Dunhill Ecopark.
"When someone in the village of Dunhill flushes the toilet, their wastewater flows by gravity out into the public network and down here to the first reception tank, which is a septic tank," he said.
"The solids are removed there before it flows, again by gravity, into a series of cells. As the wastewater moves through each cell, the level of pollutants is further reduced until it is at such a low level that it can be safely discharged into the river.
"There are walkways around the ponds, and it is a public amenity to the community. You can see here on a sunny day, with all the plant growth and the birds whistling, it's an attractive amenity to have in your local community and an outdoor space for people to use."
Uisce Éireann’s Environmental Strategy Manager, Dr Brian Deegan, said there is absolutely no smell from the wetlands and describes the development as an environmentalists dream.
"Once the aquatic plants are established, they form a mat, absorb nutrients, and remove pollutants from the water. Sunlight then provides UV rays that break down the bacteria and the viruses.
"Wetlands are natural wastewater treatment plants. They bring big benefits to biodiversity. Huge numbers of flora and fauna. They also sequester carbon. That is three wins. It's absolutely brilliant," he said.
