The fame of Killarney's lower lake has spread to China. But it is not the beauty of the lake which has attracted world attention but its pollution and the efforts being made to clean it. Ireland is to the fore in tackling the global problem of declining water quality. The techniques used in Killarney to identify the main causes of the pollution and the "whole catchment approach clean-up" have interested the Chinese.
Last autumn the Chinese city of Hefei invited Dr Alan Barr to examine its situation. Dr Barr, a partner with Kirk McClure Morton, is one of the chief consultants on the clean-up of Loughs Derg and Ree on the Shannon and Lough Leane in Killarney. Hefei is the largest city in the eastern province of Anhui. It is situated deep in the lower Yangtze river valley and has a population of over one million. Also known as Lu-Chou, Hefei lies inland, west of Shanghai and south of Beijing. Like Killarney and much of Kerry, Hefei draws its main water supply from an upstream natural reservoir, which currently has good-quality water.
As in Killarney during the summer, the Chinese city runs short and the water supply is supplemented by water drawn from Lake Chao, which is situated downstream.
Lake Chao suffers from the kind of pollution found in Killarney's lower lake; agricultural, municipal and industrial discharges. "There are many similarities between the environmental problems facing Hefei and Irish catchments, although in China the situation is generally more acute," Dr Barr said.
What has interested the Chinese is the catchment-based approach of reducing phosphorus from all sources, he said.
"It represents a strategic move away from individual councils dealing with the issues of pollution in isolation."
All stake-holders - interest groups, local authorities, the EPA and Government and semi-states are involved in Killarney.
Computerised records and monitoring systems as well as strict agricultural by-laws are part of the Irish approach to tackling declining water quality, and this has captured Chinese interest, Dr Barr said.
Other projects, such as the £14 million cleanup of Killarney's Lough Leane, are slowly getting under way.
Recommendations in the second interim report of a three-year study launched before Christmas identified agriculture as the chief offender.
Poor slurry disposal practices, inadequate storage facilities and over-use of fertiliser among many of the catchment's 900 farmers are responsible for almost half of the phosphorus going into the Killarney lake.
The joint consultants on the Killarney project, Pettit and Co, hope that Kerry County Council will introduce by-laws within six months to force farmers - with fines if necessary - to improve disposal methods.
The town's restaurants and B&Bs will also be asked to separate fats and oils for collection. Septic tanks must improve - around half of those surveyed failed a percolation test and septic tanks account for 12 per cent of the phosphorus in the lake.
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