Come in, the water’s just lovely, says EPA

‘Wastewater and fouling from dogs’

IRELAND’S seas and inland bathing spots are getting cleaner to swim in, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reported.

It said the quality of the country’s bathing water continued to improve in 2021, with 144 out of 148 of sites meeting or exceeding the minimum standard. That is a rise of two from the year before, while 115 bathing sites were rated as excellent, up from 111 in 2020.

The EPA said this was due to improved management of bathing waters over many years, combined with investments in treatment of urban wastewater.

‘However, while bathing water quality has continued to improve overall, there are still issues which need to be addressed,’ it said in a statement. ‘Agriculture, urban wastewater and fouling from dogs on beaches still impact the quality of bathing waters. In addition, heavy rainfall can also quickly impact by washing pollution into our bathing waters.’

Two bathing spots were rated as poor. Balbriggan’s Front Strand Beach in north Dublin was found to be polluted by sewage discharges and misconnections, faeces from dogs, birds and other animals and by contaminated surface streams. The EPA said Fingal County Council was addressing misconnections and upgrading the Quay Street pumping station.

In Lady’s Bay, Buncrana, Co. Donegal, the main sources of pollution were said to be Buncrana’s wastewater treatment plant, combined storm water overflows, and surface run-off, which are made worse by heavy rainfall.

The EPA said Irish Water is due to begin upgrade works at Westbrook pumping station and the sewer network, while a new larger-capacity storm tank is also due to be constructed at Buncrana wastewater treatment plant.

The EPA report highlighted improvements at Lilliput, Lough Ennell, Co. Westmeath, after three years at poor quality.

It said that due to actions taken by farmers in the surrounding area, the restriction on swimming there has been removed.

The agency said swimmers should always check beaches.ie for the latest water quality information for their local bathing site.