Councillor eager to have Spanish Point’s Blue Flag reinstated

EFFORTS to restore the Blue Flag status at one of West Clare’s most popular beaches were deemed too expensive and too risky by Clare County Council.
Now though, a local councillor wants to have one of the possible solutions identified by the local authority, re-examined.
The beach at Spanish Point lost its Blue Flag status in 2002 and was closed briefly, along with two other beaches, last year after E-coli traces were found in the water.
Councillor Michael Hillery recently asked the council how it planned to restore the beach to Blue Flag standard.
Paul Moroney, senior engineer, Transportation, Water Services and Environment Directorate, gave a detailed written response outlining what the council considered.
“The position remains the same as 2012. Spanish Point failed the bathing water quality criteria because it has a small stream entering the beach,” he explained.
At the time, Clare County Council proposed a number of solutions.
“Chlorination of the stream was ruled out as unacceptable as the dosing rate could not be monitored to the satisfaction of the judging panel,” he outlined.
The council also looked at preventing the stream flowing onto the beach.
“This was proposed to be done by the construction of a removable dam at the mouth of the stream where it flows onto the beach, during the daytime and the bathing season. The surface water would then build up behind the dam and flood the low-lying inland areas. It would be released every evening and the process continue for the duration of the bathing season. A trial was to take place but it never did as there were objections from local landowners and also a fear that the national secondary route, the N67, would flood as a result. The culvert at the N67 has a history of flooding,” Mr Moroney added.
Another option proposed was pumping the surface water to the stream at the Armada, but he said the distance was too great.
“The rainfall levels were the variable that could not be predicted accurately and was common to all three solutions. It was decided that the cost of the proposals, and risk with each, did not justify the project,” he concluded.
Councillor Hillery claimed  the water at the beach is suitable for bathing but he said he was disappointed with the response because “the Blue Flag is essential”.
“Getting the Blue Flag back from a business point of view is vital and for the community in general it is very important to get the Blue Flag reinstated,” he added.
“Initially, I was worried about the damming of the stream but at the time I thought it would be a permanent structure. But after seeing the response from the council, if the water was going to be released at night that might be a solution to restoring the Blue Flag to Spanish Point as the other options they have come up with are not feasible,” Councillor Hillery stated.
“I’ll explore this further with the engineers to see if there is a solution in the part-time damming of the stream,” he concluded.