Cllr Kieran McCarthy has asked Irish Water that Ballybrack Woods stream needs to be protected more from pollution outbreaks as witnessed in recent weeks. Cllr McCarthy noted: “I was very disappointed to see the pollution outbreak in the stream. Much work has been done by volunteers such as Douglas Tidy Towns, citizens environment activists and Cork City Council to protect this gem of a green space within the heart of Donnybrook”.

 “Irish Water has got back to me and have completed their site investigation; the water quality is back to normal and whoever the culprit was and has stopped pouring a chemical or chemicals into the stream. Many thanks to everyone for raising the pollution incident so quickly. Irish Water at this point have not formally discovered who the culprit was, so one needs to be legally careful on naming anyone.  I’d ask though that all users of the woods and the Mangala just keep an eye out for future pollution incidents and report them just as fast”, concluded Cllr McCarthy.

In correspondence to Cllr McCarthy, Irish Water confirmed that a site inspection of the wastewater infrastructure was undertaken in the Calderwood/Ballybrack area on 7 July following Irish Water receiving this report. The wastewater infrastructure at Calderwood Road and the Ballybrack Walkway were inspected and was observed to be operating normally. A full walk through check of the Ballybrack Stream was undertaken – there was no evidence of pollution (no gross solids, no ragging, no evidence of third party discharges) on the date of the visit.

The wastewater network was inspected along the route of the pollution incident. This was observed to be operating normally. In addition, a member of the public advised the team during the site visit that construction work in the area may be the cause as they had observed similar incidents over recent weeks. From these investigations Irish Water have noted: “it would appear that the most likely source of this issue would appear to be related to third party activity in the area. However Irish Water are unable to formally confirm this issue”. The wastewater infrastructure in the area is fully operational and is operating normally.