No-swim notice at Ballyloughane Beach for fourth year

Irish Water has insisted that it is continuing works to eliminate the necessity for a no-swim notice on Ballyloughane Beach.

For the fourth year in a row, the quality of water at Ballyloughane resulted in a ban on swimming at one of the city’s most popular beaches this summer.

Since the summer of 2014, bathing water on the Renmore beach has been marred with repetitive “poor” classifications and due to regulations set out by the Environmental Protection Agency, a swimming ban has been in place.

However, Galway City Councillor, Terry O’Flaherty, said that she has recently received confirmation from Irish Water that they are continuing to remove the threat of pollution at the east side beach.

“This week, an Irish Water Senior Official said they were confident that they had pinpointed and rectified any locations where untreated foul effluent was entering the storm water network – this is as part of a series of extensive investigations and actions over the past three years.

“He pointed out that the bathing water results since the works were completed in late 2016 had all been ‘excellent’, except for a single result, which was still in the ‘good’ category,” said Cllr O’Flaherty.

The Independent councillor said that she, together with Deputy Noel Grealish, had met with Irish Water and Galway City Council officials over three years ago and that they had been given assurances the necessary repairs would be carried out.

“To see a red flag flying where families should be able to bring their children for a healthy and fun day out at the beach is, frankly, heart-breaking,” she said.

As part of the works, a number of combined sewer overflows have been sealed to avoid pollutant matter entering the water – with automatic monitors fitted to ascertain if there have been overflows.

It was claimed by Irish Water that, as is the case with a number of beaches, Ballyloughane is very susceptible to short-term pollution from heavy rainfall.

This is something they said was difficult to combat with the storm water outfall at Ballyloughane serving a large area of the city stretching up to Parkmore Industrial estate.

In the letter, the official assured Cllr O’Flaherty that Ballyloughane was not being neglected and that the quality of bathing water remained their top priority.

Cllr O’Flaherty said that an official from Irish Water has agreed to meet with her to outline measures being taken to improve the water quality – a meeting she said she would use to press for a final resolution to the problem.

“If, as Irish Water say, there will always be a risk after heavy rainfall, then we will just have to look at new ways of diverting this polluted water away from the bathing area,” said Cllr O’Flaherty.