Archive for the 'Polution' Category
February 27th, 2017 -- Posted in Active, Fish, Irish Water, Politics, Polution, River Basin Management, Threats, Water Directive |
Irish Water admits to delivering to the River Vartry Lime though a maintenance blunder killing 100s of fish in the first 500 meters of the River. How this will affect the eggs deposited by the spawn in November is unknown. The event happened because a belt broke on a machine that creates a lime sludge used in lowering the PH of the water delivered to Dublin. This flooded the yard with a drain that went directly into the river. Rather than admit or alert people to the spill, or seek immediate advice from the Irish Fisheries, the employees were sent with brushes into the river to brush the signs of the spill from the bottom of the channel. This moved the spill but without flushing with more water, only succeed to pollute further down the channel.
It is this lack of care, knowledge, responsibility, integrity and safety controls that have lead us to question everything that Irish Water has to say. They are trying to use this spill, yet again, as mis-information to further their aims. They say, “see the plant is old and needs replacement”. What they do not say is that this part of the treatment works will be maintained in the new configuration and no planning has been sought for a new store of dangerous chemicals or lime sludge system.
What we want is NEW controls, NEW Systems, with safety procedures and the impossibility of this happening again. It means proper huge tanks to hold such spills. No drains that lead to the river. Procedures to carefully empty these tanks and move the poisons off-site without the possibility of reaching the river. We don’t want assurances, we want penalties, we want greater flows given to the river to dilute such instances, we want the ability to divert clean water directly from the treatment works in catastrophic disasters such as this.
What we don’t want is lies, deceit, and coverups. What we don’t want is PR that says “We are not abstracting more water”, “we will give the river the same as it has been for the past 150 years”. Then in another breath they say “it is the same as in pre-2008. We have been leaking since then and this leak is 10 Million Litre per day”, when their own charts say up it is up to 15 ML per day. We don’t want them ignoring the fact that the period of leaks coincides exactly with the period that the fish have gone from poor to excellent health (the only river in Ireland) and the water quality from poor to good.
Do not be fooled by the PR of Irish Water which is an expense that they can afford and pay for. They know what they are doing and that they are intentionally ignoring our concerns for the River Vartry. It is not that they do not believe what we say, they are fully aware of the risks, they only do not want to deal with them because it will delay them and COST MONEY. To them Water has a value and is their commodity that can be sold. Giving it to the river is letting money flow down the drain. They are a profit based company and they will not do that unless forced to do so. Protecting the Environment cost money and they see no reason to pay for it. It is someone else’s problem.
We need to make sure that they are “encouraged” to think differently about this. Delays will cost them more and they will be delayed if they do not listen to the voice of the River.
December 17th, 2016 -- Posted in Active, Ecology, Fish, Irish Water, Politics, Polution, River Basin Management, Threats, Water Directive, Wildlife |
With our Appeal going in on Monday to An Bord Pleanála, we have made the best effort possible to save the River Vartry on behalf of all of you who could see that this was the big battle.
Until our Appeal is accepted and we have the file number from An Bord Pleanála, we cannot publish our Appeal but we can give you a few snippets, should you be in any doubt of why we are fighting. In order to make a determination of Environmental Impacts, Wicklow County Council needed to apply “Best Science Available Principle” and for this they asked Jonathan Sexton Executive Scientist – Water and Environment who works for the Wicklow County Council.
Jonathan Sexton produced his first report on 06/11/2016 which was excepted by Tom Griffin, Senior Executive Chemist with minor changes. However unexplainably, a major revision appeared on the 11/11/2016. The major difference was that in the recommendations an important paragraph disappeared. It said “The Applicant shall maintain the current flow regime of leaking water until such time that flow measurements and modelling have been undertaken to establish a suitable environmental flow regime that takes standards into account. The current flow regime shall use flows of water from the Vartry Reservoir to match current leakage flows from the leakage channel from the filter beds and current leakage flows from the overflow weir from the Reservoir.”
We can only applaud Jonathan Sexton for his sound and well founded suggested condition on the planning. We of course, suggested this approach but he recognised that this was the approach to be taken. Unfortunately “someone” did not agree and put pressure on him to remove this because on the version of the 11/11/2016 it was removed. What was added was the statement of Jonathan Sexton “Considering the importance of the proposal in providing secure drinking water supply to a large region, I recommend…”. Clearly he was not fully in agreement with this decision and but complied to the pressure placed upon him. Below is the full text of his recommendation.
Had this been the only issue with this report, it might pass the scrutiny of An Bord Pleanála as without proof that undo influence was placed by Wicklow County Council on an Independent Science Report. However… If you look below you will see that in the public record is a Science Report that has been altered by an “Unknown Hand“ after being published by Jonathan Sexton. This is sloppy and an unacceptable action by a Planning Authority and we claim makes the whole process in doubt. Were it to happen to you or me on planning for our new house, someone would scream. We are screaming that the Planning Permission is Null and Voided by the hacked Science Report and Wicklow County Council cannot be trusted to perform an unbiased Planning Process on this file.
When you look whom has been crossed out by the “Unknown Hand“, it is Inland Fisheries Ireland and ourselves the Local Stakeholders. Is it not surprising that these are the parties that have strongly opposed what is happening and have questioned the wisdom of the Wicklow County Council going ahead without a proper Independent Environmental Impact Assessment. This illustrates their bias against anyone who opposes themselves and Irish Water. This is not a transparent or adequate process.
Read it for yourself and raise this issue as loud and vocal as you can. We need to prove to An Bord Pleanála that it is not just us, but all of the public that want this decision reversed and sent back for proper analysis. Only this will insure the survival of the River Vartry.
December 11th, 2016 -- Posted in Active, Fish, Irish Water, Politics, Polution, River Basin Management, Threats, Water Directive, Wildlife |
We had a very successful meeting on Friday the 9th of December and were joined in the Ashford Community Centre by 84 people with apologies from another 27 that could not make it. Everyone was actively supporting and we raised €2200 to help with our expenses for the fight at An Bord Pleanála. The approach was agreed and we are meeting with the Barrister to produce the final Appeal and request for an Oral Hearing. The total campaign has raised €3450 euro which has been used for the Barrister and two Ecology consultants in preparing the Appeal.
We had the privilege of having 3 Councillors from Wicklow, Jennifer Whitmore, John Snell, and Steven Matthews who’s clarity and contribution was very much appreciated. They too were very concerned about the performance of the Wicklow County Council in granting permission to Irish Water at this time without an Independent Environmental Impact Assessment.
We reiterated that we feel that the Treatment Works needs upgrading but that this can be done without damage to the River Vartry. This is where we differ with Irish Water. To get to this position it requires the technical knowledge and the study of the river and what changes it can absorb and tolerate. This process was not done and the Wicklow County Council granted permission prematurely before anything was completed. This leaves the River in an unprotect position within Irish Water’s control without conditions.
We will be finalising our Appeal with the Barrister this week and asking for an Oral Hearing. One of the grounds for this is of great national, regional or local concern. For this we need your help. Make your voice heard. Contact me Matthew at Rivervartry.com or go to our Crowd Funding page, https://chuffed.org/project/save-the-river-vartry-from-irish-water. Share this via facebook or twitter and the word will get out.
Thanks to everyone for your support.
September 2nd, 2016 -- Posted in Active, Ecology, Fish, Irish Water, Politics, Polution, River Basin Management, Water Directive |
Irish Water, the River Vartry Protection Society and the Vartry Conservation and Angling Club have been meeting to discuss what can be done for the benefit of everyone. Irish Water would like to solve the issues before answering their Further Information Request by the Wicklow County Council. From our standpoint, as Riparian Owners, there are two issue; Pollution, and Abstraction.
We have insisted on an EIA after the decision by our last meeting that this is mandatory requirement in our eyes. The issue however is really simpler. If we could be 100% assured that the quality of the water immediately down stream of the works was perfect at all times and could allow us to reach High status water quality, then an EIA would not really be necessary. Irish Water are working towards this and have be innovative in their approach but we will need some scientific proofs and ways to insure that this is working and continues to produce these results, over drought and all year, every year. Failsafe equipment and monitoring would be required to prevent any disasters but again Irish Water are willing to work with us and the IFI toward this.
The subject of Abstraction is ongoing and will need some more time. We do not have the data required to assess what the flow should be in the river in order to always have sufficient water over the beds and in time of the Spawn to have sufficient water that the fish feel comfortable and will be safe to spawn. We will be urgently working with the IFI to try and determine this but we will not have years to develop this data (as we should have had). We understand the urgency felt by Irish Water and will have to work towards an accelerated schedule but sufficient to assure good results. This negotiation is ongoing and will be need cooperation from both sides, but we are hopeful that there is a good understanding between. In the end the River Vartry will have the protection it needs to be a model salmonoid river and example of cooperation between the pressures on Water Resources.
June 2nd, 2016 -- Posted in Active, Irish Water, Polution, River Basin Management, Threats, Water Scheme, Wildlife |
The Latest news on the Roundwood Treatment Works Upgrade is that it is on hold until Irish Water answer the Further Information Request by the Wicklow County Council. The Planning Application is on Hold and they have 6 months to answer.
We would like to thank the Wicklow County Council for supporting us in many of our Objections and adding a few of their own. They did not take up the issue of an Independent Environmental Impact Assessment but a decision that this is necessary might come after they receive the answer from Irish Water. They have shown their concern for lack of clarity in the application on Pollution and Abstraction, so could easily conclude that Irish Water are unable to give a proper assessment of the risks involved, as we believe.
We will continue our efforts to make sure that this Upgrade does not happen as it is planned and that the changes required and made before any digger starts and mud flows in the Vartry River.
I have attached the WCC Further Information request below for some interesting reading which illustrates why we are so concerned ourselves and insist that Irish Water must do an EIA.
July 9th, 2015 -- Posted in Active, Politics, Polution, River Basin Management, Water Directive |
The most important document for protection of the River Vartry is the EU regulated River Basin Management Plan (RBMP) which 4 years ago, we contributed to. We were pleased with the result as the River Vartry was going to be declared “Heavily Modified”, due to the Reservoir. Because of intervention of the Fisheries this was changed to the Upper and Lower Vartry. The Lower being natural and unmodified, while the Upper was heavily modified.
Without the help of the Fisheries, it would have been the death of the river. The plan had a requirement for defining Compensatory Flows for the river by 2015 but there were four responsible bodies, Wicklow County Council, EPA, Fisheries, and the Dublin Corp. At the time we realised that this was an important decision but would be hard to force to implement as there were four bodies responsible and it would likely fall between the chairs. Time proved us right.
It is not often that I get an opportunity to praise to the Government but Minister Alan Kelly for the Environment has done a superb job at preparing a Public Consultation Document to get public input prior to the Draft of the RBMP. To understand just how much he wishes to do a good job, I quote from the introduction, “There is general acceptance that the governance arrangements put in place to deliver the first cycle of river basin management plans did not work well. Arrangements were overly-complex and responsibilities were poorly defined with no single body having overall responsibility for developing the plans and overseeing delivery of the programmes of measures.” We have great hopes that this second cycle for the RBMP will be much more successful and address some of these weaknesses of the past.
continue reading »
July 4th, 2012 -- Posted in Active, Ecology, Fish, Polution, Threats |
In June 2012 there was a Fish Kill on the River Vartry which is being investigated by the Fisheries and reported on the website of Wicklow County Council. The cause has not yet been determined.
On Thursday the 28th we found a large 35 cm probably Sea Trout (or possibly Salmon) dead on the edge of the River. At first I thought that this was a positive sign since the fish seemed fully healthy and I presumed that death was caused by the flood the night before. While it is a positive sign to see such size fish in the river at this time, the negative issue of why and how such an event can happen is very upsetting.
I hope that we can have news soon of just how this happened and how it can be prevented in the future as the Fisheries work hard to get to the bottom of this.
Again “hats off” to the Fisheries for their diligence and continued support of the River Vartry which has taken it back from the brink to a good condition to host such fine fish. We can’t afford to loose them, but we hope that it is a preventable event that will not occur again and that we can recover from this.
March 14th, 2009 -- Posted in Polution |
We have had several comments that were posted and are re-posted here for viewing.
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I’m amazed that you know and Wicklow Co. Co. know where the sewage that is being dumped in the river is coming from and yet nothing is happening to stop it. Is there no law being broken ?
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admin answer:
It has gone on much too long and really should be stopped immediately. There are some long range plans to fix the situation but an immediate action should be taken rather than waiting. There is an EU ELD (Environment Liability Directive) see important links and the full document is there. I have not have time to study all of the documentation fully. It would be nice if someone else could “bone up” on this for future reference and be our ELD expert. It looks as if it might be powerful legislation with teeth, should or when or if it has been placed into Irish Legislation.
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i passed over the river at 6.30pm today and there was serious grey pollution coming down the river from somewhere above ashford.I informed the authorities but when the perpetrators only get fined 500 euros it just seems pointless after all who gives a #### about a few fish eh
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admin answer:
I assume that is was Ashford Bridge. We were by the river early and did not see anything, but it is spillage from Devil’s Glen and can be very direct. I will ask Kieran if they got smell yesterday as often happens. We need to really put our attention to this, once the Water Scheme business is quiet.. after Tommorrow.
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