Killiney beach still safe, says council

KILLINEY BEACH in south Co Dublin yesterday lost its Blue Flag status following pollution from a local sewage treatment plant.

Despite the pollution, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Co Council said the beach remains safe for swimming.

A statement from the council stressed that while the beach had failed "very strict" Blue Flag standards, it "should be noted that all samples taken to date had passed mandatory EU and Irish standards for health and safety".

The council said it was disappointed that samples taken at the beach during the bathing season had failed the Blue Flag standard, and added that water quality had been "adversely affected" by the outflow from the Shanganagh wastewater treatment plant.

Heavy rainfall flooding the plant had contributed to the pollution.

Minister for the Environment John Gormley recently approved an €86 million plan to upgrade the treatment plant and lay a 6km (3.7 mile) transfer pipeline between Shanganagh and Bray.

The public-private partnership scheme is expected to begin on the pipeline later this year and it is expected to be working by spring 2009. Under the partnership scheme the contractor will be responsible for the maintenance of the plant for 20 years from 2010. The work is scheduled to include an underground reinforced concrete stormwater storage tank at Bray.

Following completion of the project all discharged water should comply with national and European wastewater standards and is expected to result in a restoration of Killiney's Blue Flag status.

The upgrade of the existing Shanganagh plant is part of a national water services investment programme.

Earlier this month, pollution levels at Seapoint beach in south Co Dublin rose dramatically after overflows at the sewage pumping station in Salthill following the recent heavy rainfall.