Swimming restrictions are now in place at three Irish beaches because of poor bathing water quality, says the Environmental Protection Agency.
They are Balbriggan Front Strand, County Dublin; Lady’s Bay in Buncrana, Co Donegal and Trá na mBan, An Spideal in Co Galway.
The environment watchdog says issues including wastewater discharges, run-off from urban and agricultural lands as well as dog and other animal fouling have played a part in them advising 'against swimming' at the three spots for the whole 2023 season.
Read more: Swimmers warned about two 'poor' Irish beaches ahead of scorching weekend
But they added that wastewater upgrades are planned or underway to improve the poor bathing waters.
According to their 2022 report, 97 percent of the State’s 148 monitored bathing waters met or exceeded the minimum required standard.
Of that number, 117 bathing sites (79 per cent) had excellent water quality which increased from 115 in 2021.
But the number of poor bathing waters also increased from two in 2021.
Dr Eimear Cotter, Director of the Office of Evidence and Assessment, said: “The on-going improvement in our bathing waters is very welcome and shows that good management of our bathing areas can give a high level of health protection for swimmers and other water users.
“Year-round swimming continues to be popular and the EPA looks forward to the outcome of the work, led by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which is investigating how to protect bathers’ health year-round.
“Unfortunately, there were no new bathing waters identified in 2022,” she added.
“The EPA urges local authorities to designate more official bathing sites to protect swimmers’ health, which includes designating the large number of beaches and popular swimming spots that they monitor but which haven’t been formally identified as bathing waters.”
EPA also highlighted how two beaches have improved from Poor to Excellent quality over recent years. They are Portrane, the Brook Beach in Dublin and Trá na bhForbacha, Na Forbacha in Galway.
They said this shows that with investment and a strong focus by the local authorities in finding and fixing the issues, water quality will improve.
At some beaches, heavy rainfall can lead to wastewater overflows or run-off from urban and agricultural lands which can lead to a temporary deterioration in bathing water quality.
Further information on bathing water and updates on monitoring results during the bathing season (June 1-September 15) is available at www.beaches.ie.
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