*Some of the dead fish in Ballymacraven.
REFERENCE has been made to “an alleged discharge” for the first time from a North Clare water treatment plant which resulted in a “catastrophic” fish kill in the locality.
In May, up to 2,000 fish died outside Ennistymon on the Ballymacraven River. Species of fish discovered dead include a large number of eel, along with salmon, trout, rudd and flounder, of all ages.
Audits by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the water treatment plants in Ballymacraven, Corofin and Doolough need to be carried out, Cllr Liam Grant (GP) stated. “The Ballymacraven water treatment plant is long overdue an audit,” he commented while seeking a tour of the facilities for elected members of the local authority to further understand how they operate.
Inspections of the respective water treatment plants were last completed in Doolough in April 2022, Corofin in January 2021 and Ballymacraven in May 2023, following the fish kill. The Ballymacraven River was also subject to monitoring by Inland Fisheries Ireland in the past two months.
Senior executive engineer in the environment section of Clare County Council, Brendan Flynn noted that all three plants were operated by Uisce Éireann which is regulated by the EPA.
He said, “receiving waters should not be polluted if the water treatment plant is operated correctly. When uncontrolled designs occur from any Uisce Éireann water treatment plant they have the potential to cause pollution in receiving waters. Such an event happened recently in one of the named plants at the Ballymacraven water treatment plant which was subject to an EPA audit thereafter”.
There has been a massive underinvestment in water infrastructure across Ireland for the past three decades, Cllr Grant stated. He believed a tour of the facilities would inform councillors “on what is happening with our water”.
Aspects of the response from Flynn were brought into focus by Cllr Shane Talty (FF). “The response from Brendan is first public acknowledgement that there was an uncontrolled discharge, he doesn’t say the fish kill is linked to it but to my understanding it is the first public acknowledgement, Uisce Éireann have sent correspondence that something may have happened”.
Speaking at the July meeting of the West Clare Municipal District, Cllr Cillian Murphy (FF) commented, “there may be issues on the wastewater treatment plant, not just auditing the plant but the receiving water above and below it, that is almost critical, if we’re going to be about cleaning waterways we have to understand what the problems and where they are. It will always be an emotional passionate argument between sectors”.
Readings from the outfall are not generally completed by Uisce Éireann, Cllr Ian Lynch (IND) flagged. “Doonbeg comes up regularly and Kilmihil that there are issues there, there could be harmful bacteria in it, the Kilrush one was due to open in next few months, it would be no harm if the West Clare Municipal District visited it in the next few months. There has been such a song and dance about how great it is but all it is a sieve”.
Representatives of the EPA should come before a meeting of the West Clare MD, Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG) felt. “This incident in North Clare was catastrophic, the impact will be felt for years and years to come, it is just not good enough and we deserve a meeting. They need to come before us and give very clear indication on what happened”.
Accountability for the fish kill has not yet come to the surface, Cllr Joe Killeen (FF) said. “Can we infer that blame has been apportioned, I don’t think we can,” he commented of the reply from Flynn.
