Source of waste flowing into local river investigated

INVESTIGATIONS are under way to discover the source of waste flowing into the Green River in Bishopstown.

Yesterday, Cork City Council sent a team to the area near Inchigaggin bridge to establish where the sludge is being released.

Environmental activists are concerned it is raw-sewerage flowing across a popular scenic walkway and polluting the river.

Administrative officer at the Council’s water services’ section Michael Mulcahy said it will take a number of days to identify the source.

“We have to be very careful about jumping to conclusions and what the material is until it has gone for proper analysis,” he said.

The river is officially known as the Curraheen River but people in Bishopstown refer to it as the Green River. It meets the River Lee at the Western Road.

Chairman of Communities for Sustainable Development group Mick Murphy said the effluent has cut a channel in the path suggesting it has been polluting the stream for some time.

“We are very happy the council acted so quickly.

“In this day and age where children’s safety is so important this should not be allowed to happen and we hope they can get to the bottom of it,” he said.

The effluent flows across the walkway under the Tennis Village in Bishopstown, downstream from Inchigaggin Bridge.

Councillor Dave McCarthy said it is a public health hazard and will have to be rectified quickly.

“This type of thing flowing across a path where thousands of people are walking during the summer and where children are playing is just dangerous. It will only spread diseases,” he said.