Complaint made over ‘brown water’ in area popular with Limerick swimmers

UISCE Éireann has put in place special measures after it emerged treated wastewater was being pumped into an area of the river Shannon which is popular with summer swimmers.

Brown water has been observed flowing in the river at University of Limerick (UL) rowing club near the Castletroy waste water plant.

Following a complaint from Green councillor Sean Hartigan, the environmental watchdog has entered dialogue with Uisce Éireann.

The State utility has stressed the discharges were not of raw sewage, but of “treated wastewater”.

This, a spokesperson for the firm said is being “discharged with biomass known as sludge.”

It added that the wastewater plant is operating “at the upper limits” of its capacity, and it’s hoped to start work on a new plant next year, although it acknowledged this is subject to budgetary and statutory approval.

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In order to address the discharge of brown water, the firm stated it is using “specialist mobile dewatering equipment” and it’s anticipated this will resolve the issue of brown water emerging from the plant.

Fishermen, some of whom have angled along the river for more than 40 years, have claimed there have been issues for the last number of weeks.

Paul Gallagher said: “There was a soccer tournament last week at UL. There was a team there, I’d say they were at a match and doing recovery. They were in the river - I said to one of the guys not to swim in the river. They had no clue.”

Cllr Hartigan said from what he has seen “half the river is brown.”

“I’d advise anyone not to swim in the river and I’d advise any anglers to sterilise their hands with alcohol handwash after fishing here,” the councillor added.

Fishermen have also raised their concerns over the health of the  fish in that area of the river.