When the bay becomes a sea of salad green

As the Atlantic tide recedes, Courtmacsherry Bay becomes a sea of salad green, being compared by one environmentalist to a golf course.

Decomposing human waste and farm slurry are among the contributory factors to the vast, sheet-like spread of sea lettuce.

For locals, tourists and holiday homeowners, the nauseating stench has become a now, year-round phenomenon in the bay, which services the villages of Courtmacsherry, Timoleague and Kilbrittain.

A wastewater system has been provided for Kilbrittain, but a 2015 date has been pencilled in for the completion of a treatment plant for Courtmacsherry.

Environmentalist Tony Lowes said the sea lettuce is now surviving the winter months.

“Even if every problem was solved overnight, it would be many, many years before the sea lettuce retreated,” he suggested.

Fine Gael councillor John O’Sullivan said the proposed wastewater treatment scheme for Courtmacsherry/Timoleague has reached a design stage.

Despite the promises of previous administrations, the much-needed basic infrastructure was not provided in the west Cork villages during the boom years.

“It has taken a lot of effort and lobbying to get Courtmacsherry on the list of projects as a special case,” Mr O’Sullivan said.

“Consultants have been appointed and, according to the likely schedule, the design process will be completed this year.

The department will assess and, hopefully, approve the scheme for tender in 2014 and the likely completion date is 2015.”

It is envisaged, he said, to pipe the waste from a location in Timoleague a few kilometres to Courtmacsherry. Initial design plans point to five likely locations for a proposed plant.

“Currently, Courtmacsherry Bay is unique in that, with the completion of a scheme in Inchydoney, it will be the only bay left in the country with a major water quality issue,” Mr O’Sullivan said.

“No doubt, there is a crisis in the bay and it needs an undivided effort by all politicians and communities to progress the planned schemes.

“The bay, home to a RNLI lifeboat station along with many fishing and leisure craft, is also crucial to many aspects of the tourism industry.

“It is presently in an appalling condition.”

One of the difficulties, he said, was that untreated domestic waste had accumulated over decades.

Untreated sewage continues to escape into the bay at Timoleague, at a number of locations while, in Courtmacsherry, a pumping station releases the waste in line with a lunar chart.

Mr O’Sullivan said: “The bay can be compared to a cauldron. Much of the waste is continually stirred by the tides and does not escape from the bay. Effectively, very little of the waste gets out.”

Political cooperation, he said, was essential, as the bay services three villages split into two electoral areas.

County council officials established an executive taskforce to examine the sea lettuce problem in a number of local bays.

An official conceded: “There are a number of difficulties and, despite our best efforts to secure funding, there are no proper sewerage treatment schemes in Timoleague or Courtmacsherry.”