Ballyalla lags behind in water quality

Water-quality levels in all bathing areas in Clare are good, except in the popular Ballyalla Lake on the outskirts of Ennis, the Environmental Protection Agency has found.

 

The Quality of Bathing Water in Ireland 2012 overview, published by the EPA this week, classified bathing areas into three categories; good, sufficient and poor. The classification system is based on the levels of E. Coli and intestinal enterococci detected in the bathing water during the 2012 bathing season.

The report shows that the quality of water in Ballyalla is “sufficient” where all the other designated bathing areas in the county were found to be “good”.

While the ‘sufficient’ status, is an improvement on recent years, one local councillor says now is the time to push to get it to Blue Flag standard.

“Certainly, in the last two years, the water quality at Ballyalla has improved. The last two years it was found to be poor while this year it was found to be sufficient. I am trying to get interested parties to bring the inland beach at Ballyalla to Blue Flag status.

“In Clare, we have 11 designated beaches, eight are coastal and three are inland waters. We have eight Blue Flag beaches and two of those are inland, at Mountshannon and Ballycuggeran, Killaloe. Over the next two to three years, I am hoping that the recently set-up working group for Ballyalla lake, along with Clare County Council, will work to achieve the Blue Flag status in Ballyally. This would be the first Blue Flag beach within two miles of the motorway system in the country and could lead to great tourist and local potential use,” said Councillor Johnny Flynn.

“My understanding is that there is an obligation on Clare County Council to bring the water quality standard at the lake to ‘good’ quality by 2015. That is under the River Basin Catchment Area Plan for the River Fergus,” he added.

The EPA found good water quality at Ballycuggeran, Bishopsquarter, Cappagh Pier in Kilrush, Fanore, Kilkee, Lahinch, Mountshannon, Spanish Point, White Strand (Doonbeg) and White Strand (Miltown Malbay).

“Ten out of the 11 designated bathing areas monitored by Clare County Council achieved ‘Good’ status despite the remarkably high rainfall experienced during the bathing season. The exception was Ballyalla Lake, which achieved ‘sufficient’ status. While this lake is a designated bathing area, it is also a wildfowl reserve, which would have had some impact on the water quality, as samples are taken close to the shoreline,” according to Paul Moroney senior engineer, Clare County Council.

“We are particularly delighted to see ‘good water quality’ status restored at White Strand in Miltown Malbay, which was the subject of a ‘poor water quality’ rating the previous year, when one sample out of the nine exceeded guideline and mandatory pollution limits,” Mr Moroney added.