Councillors call for single 'overarching body' to oversee Mayo waters

Mayo councillors have called for one single overarching body to be in charge of water laws.

The topic of water pollution and prevention was brought up at a strategic policy committee meeting today for the environment, climate change, and agriculture.

Cormac McConigley, Catchment Assessment team manager at Local Authorities Water Programme (LAWPRO) presented at the meeting, speaking upon Blue Dot waters in Mayo.

Blue Dot waters refer to any body of water that must achieve high status and quality. These waters generally have a history of maintaining high status, and are predominantly situated on the Western seaboard.

The aim of LAWPRO is maintaining the quality of these waters, as well as bring lower status waters to a better level. This is done by analysing and identifying what causes pollution risk in the area.

There are 42 areas for action in Mayo under the plan, out of 352 water bodies in the county, 204 are covered in these areas.

The vast majority of these action plans will be led by LAWPRO, with three in the Clew Bay areas being led by Mayo County Council.

There are 402 of these water bodies nationwide, almost 12 percent of them found in Mayo, with half of them currently meeting objectives.

As part of the plan, so far LAWPRO have campaigned at eight schools in the county, and are currently in the process of publishing booklets for communities and events which explain to the public more about the Blue Dot waters.

Local Election candidate, Councillor Peter Flynn, said it was ‘good to see a lot of positive numbers coming out of Mayo’ but called it ‘nearly impossible’ to find out who is responsible for individual waters.

“This is the frustrating part for people who live along these rivers, or use them for various activities, is trying to get clarity as to who is the body or person responsible for anything,” he added.

Giving the example of the Carrowbeg river running through Westport town, Cllr Flynn explained that there was a ‘hugely contentious’ issue last year over an island of the river ‘with wildlife all alongside it’.

“One group decided it shouldn't be there, one group decided it should, there were all sorts of problems,” he said.

The Fine Gael councillor questioned Mr McConigley on whether this would lead communities to clearer direction around who is responsible, because right now ‘there is nothing but confusion’ right around the county in terms of rivers and lakes.

The meeting’s chairman, Cllr Michael McLoughlin, agreed with Cllr Flynn and reiterated the question. 

Mr McConigley explained that LAWPRO do not have an enforcement role, and called their efforts a ‘very’ collaborative approach with communities and landowners to try and ‘encourage people to take stewardship and ownership of their water rights’.

He continued: “You can reach out to LAWPRO with particular issues, and they will be able to point you in the right direction, for sure, but we don’t take any enforcement action on the ground, that all still rests with the implementing bodies.

“It is something we get a lot from communities, that it is very confusing, and it is confusing even for me, like I wouldn’t be able to tell you who is in charge of what river for exactly what action, so for the general public it is even less clear.”

Acknowledging that as a country, it should be easier for people, but said ‘our long history with water’ is a complicated issue.

Councillor Gerry Murray brought the meeting's attention to a map which outlined the Swinford area as having ‘significant’ public health concerns, to which Mr McConigley said usually surrounds drinking and bathing water.

Mr McConigley explained: “Usually it’s for drinking water protection, bathing water protection, or something like that, and it is not led by LAWPRO, so it would be, probably the National Federation, but I wouldn’t say for sure.”

Chairman McLoughlin thanked Mr McConigley for his presentation, and said protecting water sources is ‘so vital and so necessary for the next generation and the future’.