'No reports of fish mortalities' following leak into River Lee from water treatment plant

Inniscarra Bridge near Ballincollig, Cork. The EPA recommended that the automatic shutdown of the sludge treatment facility should operate regardless of whether the valve is opened in automatic or manual mode. Picture: Denis Minihane

There were no reports of any fish kills as a result of the accidental discharge of an estimated 100 cubic metres of sludge into the River Lee from a treatment plant at Inniscarra, Co Cork, according to a report by the State environmental watchdog.

An audit by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the incident, which occurred on October 15, revealed that turbidity levels — a measure of the cloudiness of the water caused by suspended particles — as a result of the discharge of the sludge were up to 100 times the recommended level.