Money promised to tackle Ballyloughane pollution

Irish Water has given assurances it will finance works to tackle the serious pollution crux at Ballyloughane beach..

The water authority, at a meeting this week, agreed to fund remedial works at Ballyloughane Beach – once the source of contamination has been identified.

Irish Water and Galway City Council are intensifying their testing and research efforts between now and September as they continue to investigate the source of contamination.

Bathing was banned at the popular east-side beach last week because of unsafe levels of E. coli, bacteria that can cause serious health problems. As well as inconveniencing beachgoers, the lockdown damaged the city’s reputation as a beach resort city.

But this week politicians and officials at Irish Water and Galway City Council agreed to unite to sort out the problem once and for all. Pinpointing the pollution problem, and then solving it, is seen as the next step in plans to achieve the coveted ‘Blue Flag’ status for Ballyloughane.

Galway West TD, Noel Grealish, organised this week’s meeting, where progress was made on the problem. In attendance were Deputy Grealish, Ray O’Dwyer, head of operations and maintenance at Irish Water, and Tim O’Connor, of Irish Water with Galway City Council Chief Executive, Brendan McGrath and his officials, Edel McCormack and Ray Brennan, as well as Galway City Councillor Terry O’Flaherty.

For more on this story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune