Record year for clean water as only two beaches fail to meet EU standard

ONLY TWO out of 135 Irish beaches failed to meet minimum EU water quality standards last year, making it a record year for cleanliness, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Clifden Beach in Galway and White Strand in Miltown Malbay, Co Clare, were classified as having “poor quality status” because of excessive amounts of faecal coliforms in their waters.

In the case of Clifden Beach, a programme of remedial works for the nearby sewage plant should bring about significant improvements in water quality in the near future, the agency said.

The beach at Miltown Malbay failed because of “an uncharacteristically poor” sample result when the tests were taken after bad weather. Excessive rainfall can result in overflowing drains or run-off from agricultural land which causes temporary pollution of bathing water.

The 2011 results showed a significant improvement on recent years. The worst year since records began in 1991 was 2008, when nine of the State’s beaches and lake shores designated by local authorities for bathing failed to meet minimum clean-water standards. Nine beaches again failed the test in 2009. There was a substantial improvement in 2010, when just four beaches failed.

Although the bathing areas found to be unclean were not the same each year, some are persistent failures, with Clifden Beach failing each year.

Other areas have shown a particular improvement in standards. In 2009 Fingal in north Dublin had the worst-quality bathing water of any county in the State, with three of the nine failing beaches located at Balbriggan front strand, Skerries south beach and Burrow Beach in Sutton.

In 2010 it had one of the four, with Burrow Beach remaining on the list, but last year all its beaches reached the minimum standards.

However, while the number of beaches meeting the minimum standards doubled last year, the number meeting the higher “EU guide” values, for the best quality water, was lower. Just 112 out of 135, or 83 per cent, met this standard, compared to 90 per cent in 2010.

Last year saw an increase for the first time in 14 years in the number of beaches designated for swimming. Until 2011 local authorities designated just 131 areas. Five new beaches were added last year at Carrowniskey, Louisburgh, Co Mayo; Grattan Road Beach and Ballyloughane Beach in Galway City, and Streedagh Beach and Dunmoran Beach, Co Sligo.