The water tested at the sites was found to cause potential illnesses in swimmers.
Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency released new statistics this week, and it was mostly good news.
132 of the 142 (92%) beaches around Ireland were said to be of a ‘Sufficient’ standard, with almost three quarters of all beaches (102 / 71.8%) found to be of an ‘Excellent’ standard.
However, seven of the beaches (4.9%) were discovered to be of a ‘Poor’ standard, and the EPA describes those beaches as follows:
“The fact that any bathing water has been classified as ‘Poor’ means that there is a risk of periodic microbiological pollution which could potentially cause illness such as skin rashes or gastric upset. Under the Bathing Water Regulations, local authorities are required to put in place notifications for the entire bathing season advising the public against bathing. This could include a bathing prohibition if a serious pollution incident occurs.”
Of those seven beaches, five of them are in Dublin alone, with the other two to be found in Galway:
– Sandymount Strand, Dublin
– Merrion Strand, Dublin
– Loughshinny, Dublin
– Portrane, Dublin
– Rush South, Dublin
– Ballyloughane, Galway
– Clifden, Galway
Andy Fanning, Programme Manager of the EPA’s Office of Evidence and Assessment said:
“Our assessment shows that urban beaches are under greater pressure that those in more rural locations. More needs to be done to eliminate the sources of bacterial contamination that are particular to urban locations. The main issues are misconnections to surface water drains and other run off from urban environments, together with sewage discharges. Work is needed by local authorities, Irish Water, businesses and homeowners to ensure that contaminated wastewater is correctly collected and treated before being released into the environment.”
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