Council puts Sow River water under microscope
PLAN UNVEILED AT WEXFORD BOROUGH AND ENNISCORTHY DISTRICT MEETINGS, AND AT A GATHERING IN BALLYMURN HALL
WEXFORD County Council is undertaking a major assessment project on the river Sow, one of the main drinking water sources for Wexford town, with the aim of addressing issues of high nitrate concentrations and elevated amounts of phosphate and ammonia.
The project is part of a national local authority waters programme and in Wexford it will be carried out by a team of scientists led by Catchments Manager, Ruth Hennessy, who gave a presentation on the project to Wexford Borough District Council, Enniscorthy Municipal District Council and at a public meeting in Ballymurn Hall on Wednesday night.
The other team members focussing on Wexford will include: Seamus O’Brien; Sinead Barrett; Philip Murphy; Stephen Davis; Michael Nugent and Brian Casey.
The work will be carried out in conjunction with a number of stakeholder organisations including: Irish Water; the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government; Inland Fisheries Ireland; Teagasc; the Sea Fisheries Protection Service and the national Forest Service.
Introducing Ms Hennessy to the local authority members in Enniscorthy, Director of Services, John Carley, said the river Sow was one of 43 priority areas of concern in the south east.
In addition to Ms Hennessy two other members of the Catchment Assessment Team relating to Wexford were in attendance at the meetings in Wexford and Enniscorthy: Ann Phelan and Stephen Davis.
‘We will be looking at all aspects of the river and working with the communities that live beside the river and rely on the river for recreation and business; we aim to work with everybody,’ Ms Hennessy told councillors.
She said the Sow river was identified as one of a number of priority areas in Wexford where water quality standards are not being met and where improvements can be made. She added that between now and 2021 the team will also be looking at waterways in areas including Blackwater, Wexford Harbour Lagoon, Duncannon and Bannow.
The Sow river catchment with a number of different tributaries, incorporating an area from Castlebridge to Oylegate and the Ballagh, has been chosen as the first focus location as it is at ‘moderate status’ where water quality is not good.
The main issues are nitrate concentrations that are too high with elevated phosphate and ammonia levels and the detection of pesticides. The project will look at what is contributing to this and how it can be addressed and improved.
‘Nitrate levels are too high,’ said Ms. Hennessy
She said the public will be encouraged to work with the team on the project and one aspect of the initiative is the agricultural sustainability support and advisory programme for which she said Eamonn Grace will be the liaison officer from Teagasc.
A focus of the overall project will be to identify what activities are impeding on water quality in the river.
‘We’re going to be monitoring the water quality in detail, in a focused piece of work’.
The team of scientists will look at pollutants, algae, oxygen levels, plant species and the chemistry of the water and will walk the riverside, tracking where the water colour changes in an effort to target the causes and address them.
‘We will look at the changes and work with agriculture and the landowners and property owners involved to correct the problems and identify what needs to change’, said Ms. Hennessy
‘We have to ascertain what is going on and why it’s happening,’she said.
‘Ms Hennessy said the team will be in Wexford during November, December and January. The project will take a couple of visits at different times of the year. The plan is to meet people in the community and to have a detailed assessment done by the end of January.
She said a monitoring programme will also be in place up to 2021 and that between now and then there will strong interaction between all stakeholder groups as part of what the catchment assessment team envisage will be a collaborative, community effort to address the issues with the river.
‘Whether its farmers or private householders, we are relying on their voluntary participation in this programme’.
The water monitoring aspect of the work will examine macro-invertebrates, macro algae and nutrient levels in the water source.
Senior County Council engineer Gerry Forde told the Wexford District meeting that in the old days it was about enforcement action while the new approach is one of collaboration and working from the grassroots up.
Mr. Forde said the Sow river was one of the main sources of water for Wexford town and the over-the-water area and he has seen for himself how ammonia is causing particular problems in relation to the taste of the water.
Cllr. Jim Moore commented at the Wexford meeting that people take the water supply for granted and found this out during the summer drought when we ran out of water. Cllr. Moore pointed out that the Sow catchment is an agricultural area and to highlight all of a sudden that nitrates are high, might be doing a disservice to the industry. He asked if the problems were getting better or worse.
Cllr. Tony Walsh asked how the team will deal with a situation where they find a direct source of a problem.
Ms. Hennessy replied that there is a large EPA data base over a long period of time which is sufficient to show problem areas but not specific enough to pinpoint what is causing the problems, whether that is a licensed activity, agriculture, a septic tank or waste water treatment plant.
‘It’s a question of going behind the data and seeing where the extra focus is needed’.
She told Cllr. Walsh that people generally are becoming more interested in how their activities are impacting on water quality. She said if a waste water plant is causing a problem, they will liaise directly with Irish Water; if it is an agricultural source, the Teagasc team will deal directly with the farm.
At the Enniscorthy meeting Cllr Johnny Mythen asked if there will be any part of the Slaney river involved in the programme and Ms Hennessy said a section of it might be but the main focus will be where there are identified water quality issues.
Cllr Mythen also asked when testing was last done - to which Mr Carley replied: ‘River testing is done regularly and the catchment is based on priority. It’s ongoing.’
‘It will come down to what issues are identified,’ added Ms Hennessy.
‘We will go back to Irish Water and in some instances we will look at collaborating with other agencies.’
Cllr Kathleen Codd-Nolan asked what will happen where individuals are identified as contributing to the problem even inadvertently.
‘There are a number of supports available and we hope people will avail of them,’ replied Ms Hennessy.
‘Some people cannot make improvements if they do not have the resources to do it,’ she added. ‘However, it might not be huge changes that they have to make.’
Cllr Paddy Kavanagh then suggested there is more pollution ‘south of any town’ rather than rural rivers.
He also commented that farmers were in an awkward situation because they are prevented from spreading on land during dry periods in October but could do so in July even though it might be wet,
‘You can spread slurry in July when you might have two weeks of rain but not in October when you could have two weeks of dry weather,’ he said.
‘Do we see any change coming where common sense might prevail?’ he asked.
Cllr Barbara-Anne Murphy agreed with Cllr Kavanagh’s sentiments and said a different approach is needed.
‘It’s ridiculous that you cannot spread in dry weather but you can during a wet summer,’ she said.
‘It’s about helping farmers identify where on their farms is vulnerable,’ said Ms Hennessy, in response to the councillors’ comments.
‘It’s a collaborative programme and a support programme,’ she added.
Ms Hennessy added that in instances where septic tanks are found to be impeding on water quality grants are available to help rectify the problem.
Cllr Keith Doyle suggested that if a farm was identified as being contributory to the issue work could be done to get the farmer in question to change working habits.
‘It’s important to note that agriculture is not just the only source of nitrates,’ said Ms Hennessy.
‘In some areas it could be from a number of houses and it could be an ongoing problem because of inadequate septic tanks,’ she added.
Cllr Mythen criticised the fact that grants relating to septic tanks are capped by the Department of Environment at €4,000.
He said a pensioner he knows was faced with a bill for €9,000 in relation to upgrading her septic tank. Ms Hennessy said the catchment assessment team couldn’t influence such matters but concerns could be relayed back to the Department of Environment with a view to a implementing change in policy.