Year-round water testing 'could threaten Galway's Blue Flag beaches'

That’s what councillors were told this week after Cllr John Connolly (FF) proposed a motion that would have regular water quality tests carried out at all the main sea swimming areas in the city beyond the main bathing season.

Director of Services Dermot Mahon said testing the waters outside the required June 1 to September 15 bathing season ‘comes with a health warning’.

“The overall test results will impact. In the Chief Executive’s report, we see that the summer of 2021 was hugely successful in terms of the level of warning notices that had to be issued – it was probably the lowest it’s been in 10 years.

“By and large, a lot of the issues [related to water quality] are related to run-off or rainfall and the issue of extending beyond the bathing season could have an impact on the average test results.

Senior Planner Carmel Kilcoyne said all-year-round sampling was carried out in Dublin City Council, but they just published the results and did not necessarily issue no-swim notices.

“There is legislation on this – it is EU legislation that testing is required between the months of June and September. We are testing to the EU law requirement,” said Ms Kilcoyne.

Cllr Connolly’s motion, which seeks year-round testing in recognition of the increasing popularity of sea swimming in winter, was initially seconded by Cllr Terry O’Flaherty (Ind).

However, Cllr O’Flaherty withdrew her seconding when informed of the risk of rainwater affecting the results.

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