Drop in water quality ‘not related to cruise ships’

Galway City Council – Local authorities have rejected a suggestion that visiting cruise ships are dumping sewage into Galway Bay causing a deterioration in water quality.

At a City Council meeting, concerns were raised about the frequency with which warnings were issued this Summer, advising people not to swim in Salthill and Ballyloughane beaches.

Councillor John Connolly highlighted the issue, and was particularly concerned about the number of no swim notices and advisory notices warning about water quality, which were issued this year in the city.

Cllr Donal Lyons suggested that there was a view out there that one particular advisory notice regarding water quality in Salthill was issued soon after a cruise ship had left the bay.

He alluded to the link between cruise ships in the bay, and a subsequent deterioration in water quality, which has been the subject of social media commentary.

The Council’s Senior Executive Engineer in the Climate Action, Environment, Recreation and Amenity Department, Carmel Kilcoyne, acknowledged that that was the “rumour” out there but “it’s not true”, she said.
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