SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY Council is investigating pollution in the River Poddle after photographs were shared on social media which appeared to show the river coloured a milky white last Friday.
The river rises in Cookstown in Tallaght, forms a lake in Tymon Park and flows into the River Liffey.
Photographs were shared on Facebook by the Cairde Pháirc Thigh Motháin (Friends of Tymon Park) group, while another photograph was shared on X, formerly Twitter, by the Save the Poddle Wildlife Sanctuary group.
People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Paul Murphy also raised the issue in the Dáil on Tuesday, saying: “The River Poddle was the main source of Dublin’s drinking water for more than 500 years, but if one was to drink it now, one would be in danger of going to hospital.”
He said it is polluted so often that it is a danger to wildlife and children in the parks that it runs through in Tallaght, Crumlin and Kimmage and that local people and environmental activists had been raising the issue “for years” to no avail.
This is how our rivers look under the auspices of local authorities.
— Save the Poddle (@SavePoddle) September 29, 2023
The Poddle, Tymon Park.
29th September 2023. pic.twitter.com/JOAGRYfpFU
He asked Taoiseach Leo Varadkar if business owners would be prosecuted “for polluting our waterways for the sake of profit”.
Responding, the Taoiseach said he was not aware of the details, but that he would make sure his office makes further enquiries about it.
The incident comes following concerns about algal blooms in Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland and Blessington Lake in Co Wicklow.
In a statement to The Journal, the Environmental Protection Agency said it has not directly received any complaints in relation to the incident.
“The EPA received complaints in 2020 and 2021 regarding concerns about possible pollution issues in the River Poddle,” it said.
“The complainants were advised that the local authority is responsible for the investigation of alleged water pollution in such cases.”
A spokesperson for South Dublin County Council confirmed to The Journal that it received a report of pollution in the River Poddle on 29 September.
“The Water Pollution Section attended the Park to assess the nature of the pollution and collect a sample. An assessment of the upstream stormwater drainage catchment was made, and a location was identified to be the likely source,” the spokesperson said.
“It was determined the discharge was not from a fixed premises but rather a dump of material into the stormwater drainage system through a road gulley. A sample was also collected from this location.”
The spokesperson said that a further assessment of the catchment was made on Saturday, 30 September and on 2 October through to 4 October with the aim of gathering evidence.
This work is continuing, they said, with Water Pollution staff also gathering evidence this afternoon.
“The Council are not aware of any noticeable impact on fish, and bird life in the Park seem to be largely unaffected by the incident. The Council will continue its investigation into this incident to prevent further such discharges,” the spokesperson continued.
They said SDCC is aware of previous random pollution incidents in the river and that surveys are ongoing.
Speaking to The Journal, Roisin McAleer of Save The Poddle Wildlife Sanctuary said it isn’t the first time that the river has looked like that or that the issue has been reported to the council.
“It’s quite frequent and especially in the Tymon area,” she said.
“They can be different types of pollution incidents and they look like different things. Sometimes it can be a smell, sometimes it can be green or grey and murky. It seems to be this sort of grey-white look seems to be more up in Tymon Park direction.”
She said she was pleased that her post received so much attention. “Lough Neagh especially is making a lot of news and people are starting to think more about the importance of water, just water body, which is great.
The frustrating part for me is that this has been going on for so long, it’s so frequent and it wasn’t getting any traction or attention.
Having raised the issue of pollution in the river “several times” in the last two-and-a-half years, McAleer said the response is often “confirming what you know” and that it is frustrating that the issue seems to arise frequently, seemingly with no permanent solution.
She said she is concerned for the river and the wildlife that occupy it, such as fish, herons, swans, mallards and sparrow hawks.
“If the river is degraded slowly over time, well then it’s seen as a worthless river or a river not worth protecting. Recently there was a Flood Alleviation Scheme passed for the river. In order for that to be passed, there had to be an ecological assessment, so if the ecological status of the river is really really downgraded because of incidents like this, then it’s more likely that it won’t be protected or restored.
“It’s an amenity for the local community. It’s a place where young children in the city can access nature on their doorstep. It’s a very special experience to have, not everybody has that, and when we start covering them up or turning them into drains, that’s a huge loss.”
She said the issue needs to be prioritised and go further than “small solutions”.
“It’s not about like restoring a little part of a river and ticking the box and saying: ‘okay, we have a biodiversity plan for that spot’. A river is transient. You can’t fix a part of the river,” she said.
“They’re not really getting to the root cause and looking at how we tackle waste and pollution and how pollution is profitable, really. We don’t put a value on nature the way we put a value on business and profit.
“The extractive way that the current system exploits nature is not just killing ecosystems, it’s killing people. We need system change to genuinely support people and nature.”
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