Wexford County Council have issued a 'Do Not Swim' notice to three beaches in the county following water sampling tests.
The notices have been erected at Ballymoney North, Duncannon and Booley Bay Beach.
Routine testing conducted as part of the Council’s bathing water sampling programme showed breaches of the mandatory levels for E.coli and Intestinal Enterococci at the above beaches.
Following consultation with the HSE, the Council decided to issue “Do Not Swim” warning notices at the affected beaches in the interest of public health and in accordance with the Bathing Water Quality Regulations.
“Do Not Swim” notices have been erected at Ballymoney North (Blue Flag and Identified Bathing Beach), Duncannon (Identified Bathing Beach) and Booley Bay Beach (Green Coast Beach)
Please see the link below for more informationhttps://t.co/W2cgYqX7qW— Wexford County Council (@wexfordcoco) August 20, 2020
Technical staff are currently investigating the matter and while the exact source of contamination is not yet fully identified, the elevated levels of E. Coli and Intestinal Enterococci may be partly attributable to recent spells of heavy rain.
Further water quality samples have been taken today and results are expected on Saturday next, 22 August, at which stage the prohibition notices will be reviewed.
Speaking to Beat News, Brendan Cooney - Senior Executive Scientist responsible for Environment at Wexford County Council said:
"We take samples at all of our beaches during the summer months - we do it for June, July and August.
"During the periods of heavy rain we have noticed that sometimes the E. Coli and Intestinal Enterococci levels have gone up and this time they've reached the limits.
"What we have in limits is greater than 2,000 E.coli or greater than 250 Intestinal Enterococci, and unfortunately for the three beaches Ballymoney North, Duncannon and Booley Bay Beach the limits have been reached."
In the meantime, beach lifeguards at Ballymoney North and Duncannon Beaches will fly a red flag indicating swimming is prohibited while signage to this effect will also be placed at Booley Bay Beach. Members of the public are requested to abide by these restrictions until further notice.
Wexford County Council wishes to assure the public that water quality results for 15 other beaches sampled along the Wexford coastline have been excellent with no issues encountered.
