LAST UPDATE | 6 Jun 2019

BATHING BANS HAVE been put in place at eight Dublin beaches following stormwater overflow at a wastewater treatment plant.

Following heavy rainfall, there was an overflow at Ringsend Wastewater Treatment plant. A Status Yellow weather warning was issued by Met Éireann earlier this week.

The bathing areas affected are Dollymount, Merrion and Sandymount in Dublin City, and Killiney, Sandycove Beach, White Rock Beach, Seapoint and the Forty Foot in Dun Laoighaire. 

“The overflow was a storm water overflow” a spokesperson for Irish Water said.

“The network in the Dublin area is a combined network that collects both rain water and wastewater which, under heavy rainfall conditions, excess incoming flows are stored in a storm water tank.

“This is screened and settled prior to overflowing. The overflow is diluted, partially treated wastewater.”

Dublin City Council and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, in consultation with the HSE, have put bathing prohibition notices in place at a number of beaches, as of today.

This advice remains in place pending further sampling results of the bathing waters next week, when it’s hoped that the notices can be lifted.

Notices are displayed at the beaches and on the Environmental Protection Agency website beaches.ie advising the public of the restrictions.

Separately, bathing prohibitions are in place for the entire 2019 bathing season at Sandymount and Merrion beaches due to general water quality, however, the Environmental Protection Agency has instructed Dublin City Council to continue to declare incidents at these beaches whenever they occur.

Irish Water has said that it regrets the impact this may have on beach users.