Published: Wednesday, 16th June, 2010 5:00pm

Toxic bloom on Ennell as county is shamed in Blue Flag race

Westmeath County Council's Environment section has erected signs at Lough Ennell warning people not to swim in its waters - in a week when over two hundred people are set to swim there as part of the Fighting Cancer triathlon taking place this weekend.

Hugh O'Reilly, Senior Executive Officer, told the Westmeath Examiner that it would be up to the organisers to decide whether or not their events should go ahead and that Westmeath County Council had issued the signs as a precautionary measure.

Ironically, the signs have gone up just as the list of this year's Blue Flag beaches is revealed - and again, there is just one Westmeath location listed: Quigley's, near Athlone.

"The signs say that Toxic Algal Bloom may be present in or near the foreshore in this area. The algal bloom is a natural phenomenon and the signs are put up as a precaution. We have taken samples of the algae and it takes a few weeks to get the results," said Mr O'Reilly. Some types of algae can be toxic. The signs warn that "the level of Algae toxins present can be dangerous to both human and animals" and advises if scum is visible, not to swim there.

The Fighting Cancer Triathlon is due to have over 230 people entering the water on Saturday morning. Ann Coleman, organiser says that the decision about swimming will be made on Saturday.

"We have been in touch with the environmental people, and they say they are not overly concerned, or not concerned enough to prohibit us fro swimming and last weekend, the wind and the rain were good for it, so we're going to make that final call on Saturday morning," said Ann.

"If we have to, we will have the event without the swim, but fingers crossed that won't happen. We're not taking a light attitude to this, but we will have officials there on Saturday morning and will make the final call then."

Hugh O'Reilly also said that the algae occur on all watercourses and the bloom in recent weeks is the result of "enrichment". Test results are due back this week.

Bartle D'Arcy, General Manager, Belvedere House Gardens and Park believes rain and wind has improved the water quality on the lake over the last four days and that the colder weather will improve the water qualityby the weekend: "After the hot spell there was a distinct bloom on the lake and it was in evidence along the shoreline. The heavy rain on Sunday and the windy weather last week has seen the bloom disperse and I believe the swim will go ahead."

Artist supporting Triathlon

Meanwhile, Artist Kevin Flood has donated a painting to the Fighting Cancer Triathalon. The painting captures the beauty of Tully Cross, Renvyle, Galway and it will be sold to raise much needed funds in support of Fighting Cancer which is an independent self-financed charity set up in 2001 to raise critically needed funds for the Cancer Clinical Research Trust (CCRT) at St. Vincent's Hospital Dublin.

To place a bid for the painting log on to on to the Fighting Cancer website. www.fightingcancertriathlon.ie.

This is the tenth year of the triathalon and its sixth year in Mullingar and to date over €1.3 million has been raised by these events.

The Triathlon, which starts at 10 a.m., involves a 750m swim along the shores of Lough Ennell, a 20km road race along the N52 and back in the Lynn Road and then a race through the grounds of the Belvedere Estate's woodland. In all, some 280 people are taking part.