There's a strong case for calling it Kildare's "iffy" Liffey rather than Dublin's river of questionable quality. For some 80 per cent of the river serving the capital flows through Kildare. How it fares there has a profound impact on much of Dublin's drinking water.
The biggest battle facing the new environmental group VOICE - voice of Irish concern for the environment - will be over water, it believes. And it predicts one of its most fiercely fought campaigns will be focused on the Liffey.
Massive development, particularly housing facilitated by rezoning and fuelled by Dublin's growth, will place considerable demands on the river as it runs through Kildare. It is already showing strain. Kilcullen cannot expand as it hasn't adequate sewage treatment capacity. It dumps untreated sewage into the Liffey. Yet the river is also destined to be used more as a drinking water source - it feeds Leixlip reservoir, which supplies much of north Dublin.
The Liffey is used as both a drinking water source and a repository for sewage; some treated, some raw. The latter creates the environmental strain. What's more, Gay Brabazon of VOICE says, current water regulations and practices amount to a facilitation of pollution.
She points to sewage treatment works not working up to standard, poorly focused water monitoring, and what VOICE believes are insufficiently strict and often vague water standards. This all too often "allows non-ompliance by local authorities" and makes EPA moves to control industrial pollution through integrated pollution control licensing largely "redundant".
"Local authorities don't own Ireland's water resources. We are waking up to this. We have to be responsible. We can no longer assume county councils are working in our best interests." Moreover, a Greenpeace Ireland (VOICE's predecessor) report this year found most rivers in the Liffey catchment were polluted. "The main water quality criteria do not protect the river. All they do is facilitate pollution. It looks like it's almost wilful."
Breakdowns at Kildare County Council's sewage treatment plant at Osberstown, which caters for much of the county and discharges into the Liffey near Naas, graphically exposes the problem, she says. One of two major sewage settlement tanks broke down on May 28th. It led to a large discharge of sludge and sewage effluent.
She has still had no replies to questions submitted to the council in June on how much was released during a two-day breakdown or on the plant's history - the council admitted "a major malfunction resulted in a deterioration in the final effluent quality" (it also caused a fish kill).
The public, she says, were entitled to be warned about what they were drinking at the time. The council says it alerted Fingal County Council, which operates Leixlip reservoir that it may have to step up its treatment.
Following requests from Greenpeace/Kildare Environmental Circle, some Liffey monitoring results were issued. No results were indicated for the Osberstown discharge from September 15th, 1995, to January 1st, 1997, even though the Liffey between that point and Leixlip is classified as "sensitive" and requires stricter water standards.
The river is not classified as salmonid - which necessitates even stricter regulations again - yet it contains salmon. But the council insists it is voluntarily applying such standards. Effluent discharges, nonetheless, were not monitored at Osberstown during this 15-month period.
A person could not be found to do the job, the council told The Irish Times, though occasional tests were carried out. The plant, opened in 1981 to cater for a population equivalent of 40,000 and is "currently working at capacity", according to county engineer, Jimmy Lynch. VOICE's Eoin O'Toole believes current demands are at least a 50,000 population equivalent.
Test results show frequent breaches of quality criteria, Mr O'Toole says. But the problem is more sinister because of the way permissible discharges are determined. "Allowable volumes" are calculated based on 95 per cent of the mean river flow rate over a year, instead of (as with toxin limits) 95 per cent of a drought flow. "This allows pollution in summer without a breach of criteria. The criteria can therefore disguise the problem."
"Legal transposition" of EU directives also allows for regulations to be eased when mechanical breakdown of a treatment plant or high rainfall occurs. VOICE says this represents an out, and makes it extremely difficult to bring anyone to court for polluting water, local authorities included.
Kildare County Council defends its environmental record and attempts to control discharges into the river. Osberstown processes sewage from Naas, Newbridge, Clane, Sallins, Kill and Johnstown. A new plant is to be built shortly at a cost of up to £18 million and will cater for a doubling of population equivalent and take in Kilcullen and Prosperous. The move has been planned taking account of the Urban Waste Water Directive and a requirement to reduce phosphates/nitrates by next year.
John Murphy, the council's project engineer for the new plant, says its discharge will comply with all EU water directives. Already, the Liffey is part of a water quality management plan which takes account of all discharges into it.
Up to 15 per cent of the Leixlip drinking water serves Kildare. "We are in constant contact with Fingal County Council to ensure the best supply," says county engineer Mr Lynch, "After all, it's our water as well."