This article is from page 26 of the 2013-05-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 26 JPG
A NEW form of calculating beach water standards has muddied the waters to such a degree that beaches with safe bathing water such as Miltown Malbay and Lahinch are losing their prestigious Blue Flags.
The Blue Flag in an international symbol to visitors that the beach is safe and the water clear, yet a calculation anomaly is leaving some of the county’s cleanest beaches without the flag, according to Clare County Council.
The local authority was informed by An Taisce and the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) that the two County Clare beaches had lost their Blue Flags for 2013.
Environmental watchdog An Taisce admitted to The Clare People however that the water quality at both beaches is safe and clean, but said there was little that could be done to return the flags as an EU directive had to be followed.
Clare County Council has claimed a “mathematical anomaly” in a new system of evaluating the Republic of Ireland’s beaches this year has resulted in the Clare beaches losing their Blue Flag status.
Describing the bathing water quality at White Strand and Lahinch as “excellent”, Clare County Council suggested that the anomaly would have resulted in both locations retaining their Blue Flags had ‘greater levels of e-coli’ been discovered in the water at both locations.
According to Paul Moroney, Senior Engineer with Clare County Council, “Even by the newly-introduced Blue Flag standards, which are 2 to 2.5 times more stringent that the previous standards, both Lahinch and White Strand have excellent bathing water, as evidenced in the EPA report on Bathing Water Quality published earlier this month. However, a mathematical anomaly that arises when low single figure e-coli test results, generally signifying pristine water, are included in the calculations would now appear to have resulted in both bathing waters losing their Blue Flag status.
“The methodology for assessing water quality in determining eligibility for Blue Flag status is based on the EU Bathing Water Directive, which was transposed into Irish law in 2008. The directive has previously drawn criticism from international experts who claimed that in some circumstances application of the methodology to good results could actually result in failures, a scenario that has now presented itself in this year’s Blue Flag Awards in the case of some Clare bathing waters. Ultimately, Clare County Council believes that the new system of calculating the results which is currently utilised for the Blue Flag scheme is not adequately equipped to deal with clean waters and should be reviewed.”
A spokesperson from An Taisce told The Clare People “no one was saying anything negative about the water”. She said the watchdog had reported the issue to Blue Flag International, who in turn was reporting the issues to the EU.
“This is something we are aware of and are working on,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Blue Flag Awards have been retained by six other Clare bathing areas, namely Fanore, Kilkee, Cappa beach in Kilrush, White Strand (near Doonbeg), Ballycuggeran and Mountshannon.