Lilliput swimming waters rated 'poor' by EPA

The public is being advised not to swim at Lilliput after water testing showed the quality there to be “poor”.

An EPA report released this morning, Tuesday, issued advice against swimming at four other locations as well - Merrion Strand, Dublin, Portrane (the Brook) Beach, Dublin, Ballyloughane Beach, Galway and Clifden Beach, Galway.

Lilliput was in 2018 also classified as poor.

Overall however, the Bathing Water in Ireland report for 2019 shows ongoing improvement in bathing water quality, with three new bathing waters classified as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ in the latest assessment. 95% of bathing waters (140 of 147) met or exceeded the minimum required standard. This is up from 94% in 2018.

107 (73%) were classified as ‘excellent’, up from 103 in 2018; 24 (16%) were classified as ‘good’, up from 22 in 2018; 9 (6%) were classified as ‘sufficient’, down from 12 in 2018

•Two bathing waters - Inchydoney East Beach in Cork and Cúas Crom in Kerry - were newly identified in 2019 and will be classified later this year.

•Three bathing waters, all in Dublin, were classified for the first time. They were:

The Forty Foot Bathing Place (classified as ‘excellent’)

White Rock Beach (classified as ‘excellent’), and

Sandycove Beach (classified as ‘good’).

Further information on bathing water and updates on monitoring results during the bathing water season (1st June to 15th September) are available at www.beaches.ie