County council to monitor beach water quality

FINGAL County Council said it will continue to monitor the water quality during the bathing season at two of its beaches which fared poorly in an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report.

The Brook Portrane and Loughshinny beaches were classed as being of ‘Poor’ quality in the ‘Bathing Water Quality in Ireland – A report for the year 2016’. It followed assessment of the last four years’ monitoring results. The report detailed the status of nine of Fingal County Council’s bathing waters in total.

Velvet Strand, Pormarnock and Burrow Beach, Sutton, were classed as  ‘Excellent’; Donabate, Skerries South Beach and Claremont Beach were classed as ‘Good’; and Balbriggan Front Beach and Rush South Beach were deemed to be ‘Sufficient’. 

A spokeswoman for Fingal County Council said that while Portrane and Loughshinny beaches continue to be accessible to all users, these bathing waters must now have a bathing restriction in place for this entire season as per 2008 Bathing Water Quality Regulations.

The bathing restriction details the precautions that beach users should take to reduce the risk of illness. 

These precautions are:

• Avoid swallowing or splashing water,

• Wash your hands before handling food,

• Avoid swimming with an open cut or wound, and

• Avoid swimming if you are pregnant or have a weakened immune system.

The spokeswoman told Northside People: “These bathing waters will continue to be monitored during the bathing season and current water quality results are available at the beach noticeboard and on the EPA SPLASH website (www.splash.epa.ie).

“A Beach Management Plan has been prepared for Portrane and Loughshinny Beaches, the details of which are on the SPLASH website. 

“The management plans outline measures planned to improve water quality and include wastewater systems upgrades, inspections and water quality monitoring and environmental awareness.”

Speaking at the launch of the report, Dr Matt Crowe, Director of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Evidence and Assessment, said: “All bathers are entitled to feel that they and their loved ones are safe from harm from the water they swim in when they spend a day at the beach. 

“More needs to be done to provide a greater level of protection for bathers at beaches and other bathing areas vulnerable to pollution. It is simply unacceptable to have popular bathing areas classified as being of poor quality.”

Meanwhile, in the Dublin City Council area, Dollymount Strand was classed as ‘Good’ in the report.