A Co Dublin beach has been hit with swimming restrictions again because of water pollution from a range of sources, say the Environmental Protection Agency.
Bathing water quality at Balbriggan Front Strand Beach was rated ‘poor’ by the EPA in 2021 and again in 2022. Environment watchdog, the EPA monitors and rates 148 bathing waters around Ireland each year.
Three beaches were rated ‘poor’ in their 2022 report but 97% of the State’s bathing waters met or exceeded the minimum standard required.
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Its assessment of Balbriggan Front Strand read: “The main pollution pressures include urban waste water discharges, misconnections to stormwater, faeces from dogs, birds and other animals, and contaminated surface streams flowing through the town.
“Discharges from the stormwater overflow at the Quay Street pumping station do not meet national standards and Uisce Éireann has works underway to upgrade them by 2024.
“Uisce Éireann will also progress works in 2023 to identify problems in the sewer network and fix them where required.
“Fingal County Council will continue to survey Balbriggan for misconnections, to advise the public on the impacts of dog fouling and the management of litter that attracts birds and to carry out further inspections of domestic wastewater treatment systems and farms in 2023.
“The ‘Our Balbriggan’ rejuvenation plan for the harbour also has the potential to improve water quality.”
The EPA says wastewater upgrades are planned or underway to improve the poor bathing waters. According to their 2022 report, 97 percent of the State’s 148 monitored bathing waters met or exceeded the minimum required standard.
Of that number, 117 bathing sites (79 per cent) had excellent water quality which increased from 115 in 2021.
But the number of poor bathing waters also increased from two in 2021.
Dr Eimear Cotter, Director of the Office of Evidence and Assessment, said: “The on-going improvement in our bathing waters is very welcome and shows that good management of our bathing areas can give a high level of health protection for swimmers and other water users.
“Year-round swimming continues to be popular and the EPA looks forward to the outcome of the work, led by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which is investigating how to protect bathers’ health year-round.
“Unfortunately, there were no new bathing waters identified in 2022,” she added.
“The EPA urges local authorities to designate more official bathing sites to protect swimmers’ health, which includes designating the large number of beaches and popular swimming spots that they monitor but which haven’t been formally identified as bathing waters.”
EPA also highlighted how two beaches have improved from Poor to Excellent quality over recent years.
They are Portrane, the Brook Beach in Dublin and Trá na bhForbacha, Na Forbacha in Galway.
They said this shows that with investment and a strong focus by the local authorities in finding and fixing the issues, water quality will improve.
At some beaches, heavy rainfall can lead to wastewater overflows or run-off from urban and agricultural lands which can lead to a temporary deterioration in bathing water quality.
Further information on bathing water and updates on monitoring results during the bathing season (June 1-September 15) is available at www.beaches.ie
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