Just seen a report regarding Youghal beach losing its blue flag status (along with clifden and ballbriggan).

Report stated that the reason for this is the fact that we had a wet summer last year which increased waste run off from the surrounding land and there was no uv rays from the sun to burn away the subsequent bacteria.

Is this true ? Or just govt spin?

nah, youghal is a kip

fair enough!

Run off from surrounding land me bo&&^X

Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTP) are designed with a capacity to take a set flow of sewage for a given amount of rainfall. This limit is set by the size of the tanks and overflow tanks.

This bit is important... The bigger the tanks the more land the WWTP need thus the more expensive to build.

Therefore the Local Authority(LA) will spec the plant to be cheap to run. So when there is excess rainfall the tanks will reach maximum capacity and overflow mixing raw sewage and rainfall. I don't know what figures they take for average rainfall, but it seems to bear no relation to reality.

Then factor in that the LA's never take into account the amount of development in the area, so than when a WWTP is specified and agreed, by the time it's built years later in many cases it cannot meet the demand of whats there in the meantime.

So in many cases you would expect a WWTP to overflow a few times a year, this could be (and is) happening on at least a weekly basis and in some cases is permanently. (e.g Middleton Co. Cork).


Now also remember that in almost all casesIreland only treats sewage to the secondary stage, you can see that we will have problems.

Thank God for the EU. New regulations are due out to limit and monitor the discharges from WWTP in Ireland. This transposes the Dangerous Substances Regulations. WHICH IRELAND AGREED IN 1976!!!


Rant over.... I feel a wave of calm coming over me.

the main problem as i see it is that most towns seem to have combined surface water and foul water sewage system. most places in the uk have separate systems for rainwater and foul drainage.

This could be true, I know that Keem beach in Achilll was in danger of loosing it's blue flag because of run-off from the land. There is only one house in the valley up from the beach and it's only occupied for a few weeks in summer by one guy. What was raising the levels of fecal coliforms was run-off from the land where sheep graze.

Cant remember the name of the fella but he designed and built the sewers in london keeping in mind that the population was going to grow. Sewers must be in london since 1750's (correct me if im wrong) point being how can we not do things right here in 2008. Thank god for european regulations as mentioned above, but i hope funding will be provided to build proper plants to meet regulations. As i doubt in the current climate we will be able to afford major public works in nearly every large town in the country.

Brittas Bay north and south beaches in wicklow still have their blue flag status but 10km down the road :


Every day, the toilet waste of almost 12,000 people gets flushed into the River Avoca.The proposed Sewage Treatment Plant was first awarded planning permission in 1993.This was challenged unsuccessfully to An Bord Pleanála. An Bord Pleanála decided infavour of the Sewage Treatment Plant but no funding arrived from government and the planning permission was allowed to lapse. Further 10 year planning permission was then granted in 1999. Since then it too has been challenged unsuccessfully to An Bord Pleanála.
Time after time, successive governments have taken credit for apparently funding the construction of the sewage treatment plant. For example, NDP funding (2000 - 2006) went towards the construction of the sewage treatment plant. Where is this phantom sewage treatment plant? The current situation is that the High Court ruled in favour of the proposed Sewage Treatment Plant for a third time on Friday 05th/October/2007.
The proposed plant is stuck in the Courts for years, and seems to have taken up permanent residence there. The Department of the Environment has given assurances that the scheme has been approved for funding under the Water Services Investment Programme 2007 – 2009. This would allow for the necessary Advance Works to begin in 2008. In December 2007, Wicklow County Council applied to the EPA for a licence to continue using the
Avoca River as an open sewer for the town of Arklow. On Friday the 11th/January/2008, Justice Frank Clarke granted leave to the objectors to appeal his decision to the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile raw human effluence continues to flow untreated into the River Avoca.
We, the citizens of Arklow need to put a stop to this situation NOW. Demand action from your political representatives. We need a Sewage Treatment Plant NOW.
The final stretch of the Avoca River as it approaches the sea is regarded by the Environmental Protection Agency as the most polluted stretch of river in Ireland. According to the 2006 Census, the town of Arklow has a population of 11,712 people making it the 33rd largest town or city in Ireland. As of 2007, there has never been any form of sewage treatment facility for the town of Arklow. All sewage from Arklow passes through a combined sewer system which was installed in the 1930s, and gets discharged untreated, directly into the River Avoca
from a series of outfall pipes on both riverbanks between the Arklow Bypass bridge over the river, and the mouth of the river. On 21/May/1991, the European Commission adopted the Urban Waste Water Directive. This directive created deadlines for its implementation. As of 31/December/2005, all urban areas with a population equivalent greater than 2,000 people are legally obliged under European law to have the relevant treatment facilities and collection systems. In 1990, the Department of the Environment, spurred on by the impending EU Urban
Wastewater Treatment Directive, initiated the process of creating a secondary sewage treatment facility for Arklow by requesting the town council to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement. 17 years later the town still has no sewage treatment facility, despite an increase in population of almost 4,000 people (circa. 50%) since 1990 The continued discharge of sewage into the River Avoca is illegal under European Law. Why have our politicians failed to act?

Thats unbelievable, the town im from in north mayo used to pump everything into the river, similar but in a smaller scale to arklow. (pop. Around 3k). I remember during the summer as a kid the green sludge that would sit on top of the water and the lake that the river flowed into would also have like a green scum on top of the water beside the banks.

this resulted in a very popular trout fishing lake suffer from dwindling fish stocks and an increasing amount of algae and weeds.

but we finally got a proper system about 4/5 years ago. Water quality is greatly improved and i hear good fishing is also starting to improve.

so on the bright side, if govt/local govt get the finger out once polluted rivers lakes and sea's can return to what they once were.

does anyone know if SAS (surfers against sewage) have any rep's in Ireland?

Its unbelievable in this day and age alright, the outflow in arklow must be effecting the coast line from hook head to north wicklow, yet 10km up the road Brittas bay gets a blue flag status ?

from the local paper last november :

Avoca River 'the filthiest' in Ireland

DIVERS WHO have been searching last week for a 28-year-old Latvian man believed drowned in the Avoca River at Arklow say that the water in the river was the filthiest they had ever encountered. Divers from the Garda Water Unit searched the river for three days last week and volunteer divers from the Boyne Fishermen's Rescue and Recovery Group continued the search over the weekend. No trace of the missing man has been found, apart from his clothes, which were located beside the river by a local lifeboat crew member last Sunday morning (August 12). Thomas Daly, from the Boyne group, said the filth in the river was worse than anything else he had experienced. 'It was absolutely disgusting,' he said. 'We are used to diving in zero visibility but in the Avoca, we were diving in two and a half feet of raw sewage.' 'On one dive near the sewage outfall pipe, it was like it was snow underwater, because there was bits of toilet paper everywhere. 'It is just disgusting, filthy and the worst we have ever come across. Human excrement is floating past you all the time,' another diver was quoted as saying. Divers had to thoroughly clean and disinfect their drysuits after each dive. Gardai this week called off the underwater search and concentrated on surface
searches of the Avoca River and Arklow Bay area.

jesus - reading that alone made me gag!

In my experience, the Marine environment is considered expendable in order to support onshore development. That seems to be the opinion of the Water Services Division of the Dept. Environment.

Now with the dissolution of the Dept. Marine, the Marine environment has no mentor. Water quality is now an issue for Dept. Environment and they have to balance that with the cost of providing WWTP, which do you think they will consider more important?

disgraceful

the continentals are right, we're feckin' animals!!!
shamed.

who should lose their job over this? or is the bureaucracy so complicated that nobody knows,
and more importantly when will it be fixed?

i'm going to be a dictator when i grow up, its the only way to get things done around here.

maybe a couple of barrels of 'Avoca spring water" delivered to Dept. Environment might get the ball rolling

we need a Surfers Against Sewage or Surfrider organisation here