POLUTION OF SANDYMOUNT STRAND
By Frances Corr

In mid February the Dublin City Council (DCC) and the Dublin Port Company were inundated with phone calls from observant locals, who regularly use the causeway and Irishtown Nature Park for their daily constitutional.

They had noticed a thick, black substance pouring from the interceptor tank onto Sandymount Strand. There were also reports of dead birds and fish in the vicinity.

The DCC and Dublin Port reacted immediately. A team of experts, which included John Collins Engineering Section and Dermot Gallagher, Senior Executive Officer, Water Pollution Control Section of DCC, immediately set about placing a boom around the exit pipe, to limit the pollution's spread on the shoreline. An investigation was commenced into the source and nature of the spill and to investigate the reports of ecological damage.

The problem appears to have occurred during investigations of road flooding near Roadstone Cement on White Bank Road. Mc Annuly's specialist drainage service was employed to clean the blocked drain. When jetting the system to clear the pipe, the pump clicked in and spewed the contents of the drain into the sea through the interceptor tank.

The Interceptor tank was built in 2000, at a cost approximately 60,000 Irish punts to act as a trap to gather contaminates from the surface water drain before entering onto the shore line.

This was carried out after complaints in 1998/99 about a discharge onto the beach from the old surface water pipe at this point. The discharge at that time was found to be highly alkaline, with a pH 12.33 with elevated suspended solids of 119mg/l. The source was traced to Roadstone Readymix Concrete Plant on South Bank Road. Since then, Roadstone received a permit to connect to the foul water sewer.

An independent Laboratory Analysis of the effluent sample, which was drawn on 17/02/04, was conducted. The report stated that after the sample was separated centrifugally and was inspected visually, yielded distinct layers of dark sediment and water of roughly equal parts. It also contained an extremely thin layer of what appeared to be oil on the top. The sediment when dried became much paler in colour and cracked in much the same way as dried clay. The additional samples received by the laboratory on 19/02/04 were allowed to separate naturally.

The two samples labelled 'Bissetts Interceptor' resembled the initial sample most closely, separating into two very distinct layers of dark sediment with water on top. The sample labelled 'Bissetts Lane' contained a dark sediment layer, but this layer seemed to be more of an emulsion, which sat at the top of the water layer. The final sample labelled 'Roadstone Roadway' contained sediment but it was much paler in colour than the other samples and did not appear to be of the same nature as other sediments.

The report said the dark coloured sediment present in the initial and interceptor samples is highly probably a blend of coal dust from a nearby coal yard mixed with normal road dust, resulting in the fine dark sediment that was present in all three samples.

Charlie Murphy of Dublin Port said he walked the entire area both the beach and Nature Park and there was no evidence of injured or dead birds or a fish kill. The area was inspected at both high and low tide.

We are given to believe that this is dust that occurs freely on the road in the area and is then washed into the drains where it caked and blocked the pipes. I am sure there are many of you reading this that are trying desperately to remember when we last had coal in this area of Poolbeg.

It also makes one wonder about the quality of the air and the level of dust particles in the surrounding area if it is sufficient to block drains. No major ecological damage occurred this time and this was due to the vigilant people, who know and respect the environment and the quick and efficient reaction of both Dublin City Council and Dublin Port Company.

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