Four top bathing spots fail water tests

Four of the country’s most popular bathing spots have failed to pass basic water cleanliness tests.

Water quality standards at Clifden in Galway, Lilliput at Lough Ennell in Westmeath, and Dugort at Achill in Co Mayo, and Ballyloughane in Galway City were given the thumbs down by the environmental watchdog, the Environmental Protection Agency, who described water quality at those locations as “poor”.

The remaining 97% or 131 beaches were given a clean bill of health with the majority, 84%, being described as “good” as opposed to “sufficient”.

In 2012, the “good” ranking was only awarded to 67% of beaches as water quality had been seriously compromised during the bad summer of 2012.

But monitoring bathing water is not a cheap exercise and EPA senior scientific officer Peter Webster said he would like to see an increase in the numbers of designated bathing areas.

Aside from the 135 beaches being monitored by the EPA for compliance with EU standards, another 32 bathing areas are being monitored by local authorities for community based eco-tourism schemes. Dr Crowe hopes they will soon be included in the national EPA programme.

All of the beaches in the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown local authority area and in counties Meath, Clare, Kerry, Donegal, and Louth were awarded “good” status in the inspections — a ranking that makes them stand out from the other 14 local authority areas.

Director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Assessment, Dr Matthew Crowe said: “From 2014, new stricter EU standards will come into force and there will be a new category of ‘excellent’ water quality.

“EPA projections suggest that under the new standards approximately 90% of identified bathing sites are likely to be classified as either excellent or good.”

According to the EPA, it is unlikely Clifden’s beach will see any real improvement in quality before 2016 as remedial works at the nearby wastewater treatment plant have just started.

The EPA believes contamination by waste water is responsible for Lilliput’s poor readings in Co Westmeath, while Achill beach was affected by a malfunction at a pumping station.

At Ballyloughane, there were two separate pollution incidents — one linked to heavy rainfall causing runoff into the water and the second where E coli standards were not met.

Since 2011, bathing water is checked for just E coli and intestinal enterococci. These are bacteria that live in the gut of warm-blooded animals, including humans. They enter bathing waters from wastewater treatment plants and through agricultural runoff when manure is washed into the sea during periods of heavy rain.

From next year, swimming water quality will be tested over a period of four years rather than annually. This means that testing will be averaged over the years 2011,2012,2013 and 2014.

Quality test

* In Cork, water quality at bathing spots at Barley Cove, Claycastle in Youghal, Coolmaine, Fountainstown, Garretstown, Garrylucas, Garryvoe, Inchydoney, Owenahicha, Redbarn and Tragumna beach was considered good.

* Warren (Cregane Strand) in Cork and Front Strand beach at Youghal were just ranked of “sufficient” quality.

* Merrion Strand in Dublin was also ranked as only “sufficient”, as were Fingal beaches, Front Strand in Balbriggan and Claremont. Bunmahon in Waterford was also given the lesser “sufficient” award, as were Dunmore Strand in Dunmore East and Tramore Beach.

* All of the beaches in Dun Laoghaire /Rathdown along with counties Meath, Clare, Kerry, Donegal and Louth received a “good” ranking.