WITH BEACHES beckoning as the weather improves and more people likely to take home holidays this year due to pressing financial constraints, it is heartening to know that 97 per cent of Ireland’s bathing places meet the minimum hygiene standards laid down by the EU directive on bathing water quality.
Indeed, 90 per cent of bathing waters meet higher EU guideline standards and are classified as being of “good” status, as opposed to merely “sufficient” – an 8 per cent increase compared to the previous bathing season. According to Dr Mary Kelly, director general of the Environmental Protection Agency, this was largely due to last year’s relatively dry summer and the provision of improved sewage treatment plants in towns and cities, at enormous public expense.
However, four bathing places have failed to meet even basic water cleanliness standards – two seawater locations (Burrow Strand in Sutton, Dublin, and Clifden, Co Galway) and two freshwater sites (Lilliput, on Lough Ennell, Co Westmeath, and Ballyallia Lake, near Ennis, Co Clare). Tests found traces of human sewage or animal waste in 10 locations, not only in Ballyallia, Lilliput and Clifden, but also at such popular bathing spots as Dollymount, Sandymount, Balbriggan and Loughshinny, in the Dublin area; Ardmore, Co Waterford; Duncannon, Co Wexford, and Silver Strand, Co Wicklow.
The explanations for poor performance are varied. Ballyallia, for example, is located in an area of intensive agriculture. Clifden has had persistent problems with water quality because of a dysfunctional sewage treatment plant. In the case of Lilliput, the authorities have installed a natural reed-bed sewage treatment system near public toilets to prevent any further potential pollution, while Sutton’s Burrow Strand is believed to have suffered because of weather conditions, with storm drains emptying into the sea while the pumping station overflowed.
Whatever the reasons in each case, there can be no excuse for complacency. As Dr Kelly noted (and not for the first time), stricter standards for bathing water quality will be required in future under new EU legislation, “which means that greater effort will be needed to ensure that our bathing waters are clean, and fit for the people of Ireland to swim in”. We rightly expect the azure or turquoise waters of far-flung holiday resorts to be pristine for bathing, so there is no reason why the same standards cannot be applied at home.