Sir, – A recent Irish Freshwater Sciences Association Conference reaffirmed the dire state of our streams and rivers.
We have a tendency to apportion blame to single groups when perhaps we are all to blame. Take a look at your washing machine and dishwater waste pipes: those innocuous white pipes puncturing our kitchen walls.
Where does the waste water go? It should go into the wastewater drain and never the same place your gutters drain into. Gutters should go into surface water drains, not waste water.
This simple separation would reduce a huge source of pollution as many homes have the plastic pipe from gutter drains heading to ditches and streams and on to rivers.
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When homeowners buy white goods with waste water needing to go somewhere, the easiest thing is to put it into the gutter drains.
I call on the authorities, whether local or national, to provide modest funding for homeowners to facilitate the separation of waste water and surface water.
Any provision leading to an improvement in separation of waste and surface waters would have an impact on wild water pollution. We can only point fingers if we are absolutely sure our own house is in order. – Yours, etc,
TOM McCLOUGHLIN,
DCU,
Drumcondra,
Dublin.
