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LAST UPDATE | 25 Jun 2019
DISCOLOURED WATER SPOTTED at Dublin beaches is due to algal bloom and is not connected to an overflow from a wastewater treatment plant that prompted bathing bans across the bay.
Bathing bans are currently in place at Seapoint, Sandycove and the Forty Foot on Dublin’s southside in addition to Dollymount on the northside.
Images circulated on social media earlier showed the water at some of the affected beaches had turned orange-brown.
Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Council has since released a statement saying that the discolouration of the water was not due to the presence of raw sewage, but was instead down to the build up of a micro-alga called noctiluca scintillans.
The council said that this is “non-toxic”.
A spokesperson said: “Further to reports in media and social media about orange water at Sandycove Beach and immediate surrounds today, we have taken samples of the orange coloured water at Sandycove this morning. Results this afternoon show that this is not raw sewerage but is a micro-alga called noctiluca scintillans. This is a benign, non-toxic, species – the ‘blooms’ are characteristically yellow, orange or orange/red.
The appearance of this algal bloom is not directly associated with the waste water overflows associated with the temporary bathing prohibition. We have been advised that this is a natural summer phenomenon in response to long day length, high nutrients and warm water.
The council said that the presence of the algae had been reported along the east coast for the past few weeks and was typical for this time of the year.
Further no-swim notices were already in place at Sandymount and Merrion beaches because of poor water quality before the latest bans came into effect.
Confirming the bathing ban at Dollymount yesterday Irish Water said in a statement:
“Due to adverse weather conditions during a yellow weather warning event, which saw heavy rainfall in the Dublin area, there was a stormwater overflow from Ringsend Wastewater treatment plant. The stormwater overflow operated in compliance with plant design and regulations, and was fully screened and settled.”
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Are they paying fines for all these occurrences
@Garreth Mc Mahon: And then blame the weather
@Garreth Mc Mahon: No – it’s somewhat unavoidable during periods of sudden heavy rain and is common practice worldwide amongst treatment plants. A runoff is needed when the tanks are in danger of overflowing – has to go somewhere.
@Garreth Mc Mahon: yeah maybe they should refund customers – no wait nobody pays for water treatment.
@thephantomshit: great point. If the sh/t was rolling down their street theyd be out protesting again
@thephantomshit: So what do you get for the tax you pay!!
@thephantomshit: actually quite a lot of companies pay effluent charges
@thephantomshit: Your name is apt!!
The tax payer pays for water treatment. Always did and always will. If the government stopped mismanaging our tax’s on like rugby ball shaped children hospitals, we might have a water treatment facility suitable for purpose.
@Thefallguy:
that would be something like 40million extra a year, but IW are spending over 1 billion a year on capital expenditure and running costs. Of course how much of that 40 million a year would go to funding IW rather than education transport or wherever else has had their funding trimmed to make up the shortfall.
@Dara O’Brien: Worldwide doesn’t have our average rainfall. You can’t say what’s fit for purpose in one region of the globe works for another. It’s simply not acceptable to pollute public beaches every time there’s heavy rainfall in Ireland. That a citizen even finds herself writing that last sentence…
@Paula T Nolan: we actually don’t get as much rain as our collective psyche likes to think we do.
@Tim Pot: I’m not sure where your getting the 40 million from or it’s relevance to my statement. The Goverment like to blame weather conditions or water protestors, when in reality the problem is one of their own making. Not planning for population growth soon enough and squandering tax’s here there and everywhere including setting up a whole quango called Irish wa(s)ter!! At a massive expense to the country, when the money should have being used to fix the infrastructure. But then I guess there would be no jobs for the boys!!
@Dara O’Brien: bigger tanks
@Darren Bates: not too sure about your statement…
@Gus Sheridan: or more tanks
@Garreth Mc Mahon: no sewage works design capacity is 3 times dry weather flow . so I suspect the system was operating within it’s design parameters
@Garreth Mc Mahon: the pictures of sandycove is Algae Bloom, also in Skerries today. a natural occurrence. It’s not sewage..
We the tax payer give our so called government a total of 7% tax to fund our water infrastructure 5% vat 2% from our motor tax enough is enough..ffg get it sorted.
@Dara O’Brien: thats what balance tanks were invented for. its just a matter of money
@Dara O’Brien: if every farmer in ireland had the right to do this after heavy rain (which thankfully they don’t) every waterway in ireland world be destroyed, this is nothing to do with heavy rain and more to do with bad planning and inadequate facilities.
@Patrick: Isn’t that ultimately ‘the Irish question’?
@Thefallguy:
I divided a billion over 25 years, but to be fair I am just guessing that is the length of the contract. Its relevant because one billion extra would not be available today if the NCH was not over budget. Thats not how it works.
We have a perfect example of IW planning for future growth with the shannon water supply scheme. As predictable as water is wet people don’t like that because in their view IW have been too generous with future growth predictions. Make up your mind.
@thesaltyurchin: 100% , that’s what I am getting at ;)
I am done with this summer. Honestly, can’t remember the last time I’ve seen so much rain. And raindrops so big, they are bouncing off the ground. Would drive anyone to the drink!
@Peter Cavey: short memory so.
@Peter Cavey: it’s not that long ago when we had 40 odd consecutive days of rain through from mid June through to August.
@Peter Cavey: ahh the weather, us Irish will never be short of a conversation starter!
@Brendan Hughes: looks like it’s history repeating. It’s rained every day in June so far except for one day.
@Peter Cavey: so it hasn’t
@Peter Cavey: I remember a summer, not too long ago, when we must have had 40 days and 40 nights of rain, if not more. The only let up was the night that Foo Fighters played in Marlay Park, and it was then that the gods of rock and the gods of weather aligned for one glorious evening of rock and roll. Little did we know at the time, but that deluge during the summer of 2007 was the signaling of the beginning of the end of the Celtic Tiger. For it was that summer which began to slowly drown the beast. An unrelenting flood from which the Tiger could not escape, dying within a year of the summer of 2007. I wonder what the summer of 2019 is signaling?
@This Guy: incidentally, that was the summer Rihanna released “Umbrella”. She’s not released anything weather-related this summer, that I know of, so we might be alright.
@Brendan Hughes: rain of biblical proportions?
@Peter Cavey: The Summer season is only a few days old if you’re to go by the calendar so give it a chance.
Like 1000000′s of people I work outdoors and for the life of me I’ll never understand why people give out about beautiful Summer rain.
It’s warm, clears the air, waters the crops and refreshes you after breaking a sweat.
Get out and enjoy yourself, rain is nothing but the very essence of life itself falling on your head.
With the best will in the world, Sandymount and Merrion could hardly be called ‘beaches’.
@Patricia Cautley: yeah, they’re fairly poxy
@Maria Hickey-Fagan: pooy
This happens everywhere but it’s not helped when most of the waste water for a major city is treated at one location and the facility is already at capacity..
Ideally waste water treatment facilities would be all over Dublin but no one wants to deal with their own sewage (clonshaugh) and no one wants to pay for water.
@Wreck Tangle: water is well paid for the government gets 5% vat and 2% from our motor tax a total of 7% of our taxes to put into our water infrastructure since 1997 the government has got close to 20 billion for our water infrastructure so far.the problem lies with our governments and their quangos that’s costing us big buck’s namely FF FG now go off and do your homework..
@Robert Phelan:
5% of vat and 2% motor tax does not equal 7% of total tax. :)
@Robert Phelan:
but you are correct it has cost about 1 billion every year to invest, maintain and support the water and wastewater in this country for the last 20 odd years. Problem was that we had (and kind of still do) 34 local authorities doing all of this completely seperate to one another. Very inefficient.
We had the example of Cork county having surplus ww capacity and cork city having a deficit. Before IW the plan was to increase cork city ww capacity. IW comes along and we just link the two systems together. People don’t want to see that having one shared utility is the way to go.
@Wreck Tangle: for your info the waste that’s scehduled to be treated at Clonshaugh will not be coming from the Clonshaugh area
Can’t wait for the predicted hot temperatures towards the end of the week, and before you know it they’ll be imposing hose pipe bans.
I can’t believe in a country prone to heavy rainfall a waste plant was designed to overflow waste in heavy rainfall. We really need to idiot-proof major works in this country.
@Paula T Nolan: You don’t understand the wastewater treatment process so and what happens in every country in the world
@Charles McDuck: well seemingly neither do Irish water!
@Paula T Nolan:
Consider existing infrastructure and then add in a changing climate, more intense rainfall periods, and you might realise the problem that all countries are facing.
@Paula T Nolan: Did nobody here of a roof
@Charles McDuck: can you explain it then please. My very point is every country in the world does not experience the same weather conditions, so what’s fit for one country might not be fit for another. Also, saying something is of worldwide standard is meaningless if it’s of a dubious worldwide standard.
@pat seery: hear hear
Irish Who ?
Brown Flag Beaches along the East Coast………”Ringsend” the irony :)
Septic
@Anthony: Who is this Irish Water they speak of?
@Whoswho: It’s the central utility that doing s damn fine job supplying drinking water and treating your sh!te in the face of idiots thinking it costs nothing
@Charles McDuck: Irish Water is a quango whose only purpose is to extract more cash from the hard pressed tax payer. Its the councils that do a damn fine job looking after our water. Fact.
@Stephen Grehan:
well somehow they have managed to spend less of our money providing and maintaining more of the water than the councils did….. fact
@Charles McDuck: They certainly don’t supply “ drinking water” i haven’t been able to drink our tap water for years now due to the amount of chlorine in it, it smells like a public swimming pool!
@Tim Pot: Wheres the usual pile of lies and links to support your madcap claims. Btw thanks for the laughs.
@Stephen Grehan: in the interest of fairness where is your usual pile of lies and links to support your madcapped claims?
@Stephen Grehan:
what would you like to know?
Can you actually prove your statement to be true?
@Tim Pot: This is an example of your usual spin and bull on your beloved Irish Water.
https://www.thejournal.ie/cork-water-supply-conservation-measures-4137044-Jul2018/?fbclid=IwAR0cx0470YHwwpN4NwRRYO8FA_Ub0DTtLoiPB5WmAyEwoKK7nyp8VWoK4m0
@Stephen Grehan:
What is it exactly that you are reffering to. the article? the comments?
I have left some good comments on that article IMO, thanks for sharing.
We’re treating Rain Water! Why isn’t this segregated from effluent! Were the Storm water tanks not kept empty for an emergency situation!
@John Declan:
1) combined sewers are common in older towns and cities
2) the tanks can only be emptied at a rate the treatment facility can handle it. if another high rainfall event happens before the tanks have been emptied then you are screwed and there is not much you can do other than call captain hindsight and install a larger tank to be empty lets say 95% of the time.
@John Declan: Tks Tim for clarification, I wonder why they spent so much money putting in water meters, whereas if they had consentrated on items like waste and surface water segregation, they could be saving money on non essential chemical and biological treatment of some water streams and also avoided some of their current predicament!
@John Declan:
There are many many items IW could spend money on. Serious public health issues such as replacement of lead pipes and improving the primary treatment of water is a big issue they are trying to fix at the minute.
Horses for courses. If you don’t install the meters you don’t identify the leaks that have reduced the amount of water that needs to be treated on a daily basis. Therefore more flow going into the combined sewers, leaving us in the same position.
We really need another waste treatment facility in Dublin we also need to stop blocking every attempt to kbuild one. One facility for the whole of the Dublin area is simply not enough. I am fed up with not being able to enjoy the water because of this
@Sinead Merrigan: where do you live and we’ll stick it beside you
@Sinead Merrigan: 14,000 objections and counting!
Last year to much sun and dry weather, we couldn’t fill paddling pools, water balloon fights any water type of fun. This week we have some lovely sunny hot days, can’t go to the beach for swim, too much water
So a Status Yellow causes a Status Brown to be declared on numerous beaches. I’d say that’s a 1-2 to Irish Water
And it’s gunna pish down tonight too. Hopefully that Clonshaugh plant doesn’t get permission.
@John Walsh:
more capacity would reduce this from happening.
The smell of it’s dreadful , dreading heat
Every year I hear about upgrading this plant, when is the end date of this project?
Is there anyway that it can be blamed on agriculture and farmers???
In all fairness the beaches and water in the Dublin area is not great at the best of times. Not to mention the sight of those poolbeg chimneys which are classified as a an attraction. If u want real clean sandy beaches go further south to Wicklow or even West and the South. You can’t compare. I often wonder about the foreign students who come to Dublin to study but never get to see how beautiful Ireland is outside of Dublin. It’s a shame.
@Anthony: Up shit creek with no paddle!
.”high nutrients” = SEWERAGE.
indirectly irresponsible … The excuses stink.
Quickly IW come safe us, we want you back.
FREE water is a human right .. so the anti water guys said .. nobody said clean ..
@John Kelly: I see a new chant from Murphy and co, “Free water is our right, we wont pay to clean up our 5h1t€”
@Do the Bort man: your a poet ..
Yes our weather is a surprise to us all..modern city my arse
Does “yellow rainfall” cause water contamination because it’s a bit like yellow snow?
We are obviously still grossly underinvesting in infrastructure in Ireland, and we are suffering the consequences of our legacy failures and of our poor and unambitious forecasting of future infrastructural requirements.
Algae actually produces 50% of the worlds oxygen. Truth. Leave it be, swim somewhere else.
If it looks like poo, smells like poo. It’s poo
@Mark Mccormack: if it looks like algal bloom, smells like algal bloom it’s poo
“indirectly”
Looks more like a sewerage leak than an algal bloom. I’d of said the water temperature was too low for an algal bloom going off what I’ve seen in the past.
Algal blooms are caused from Eutrophication due to an over load of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous) in wastewater. Ringsend wastewater treatment plant has failed every nutrient effluent requirement from 2013 to the EPAs most recent report. Is that just a coincidence?
My stomach must be full of algal bloom
Oh shit
“Status Yellow rainfall caused wastewater spill that led to Dollymount swim ban”
Met eireann’s fault again :-)
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