| Surfers slam 'sewage-infested' waters of North Coast |
| Three beaches in the Triangle area of the North Coast have been slammed by surfers for being swamped with sewage. A clean-water campaign group has called for 30 beaches around the UK to be stripped of their Blue Flag status, which assures swimmers of water quality. Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) said certain seaside areas were not meeting strict requirements set down by the Blue Flag programme and has installed a counterpoint Brown Flag at an English beach to warn bathers. Castlerock, in Co Londonderry, and West Strand and White Rocks, both in Portrush, Co Antrim, have been singled out after a Freedom of Information request revealed they were some of the 35 beaches where operators did not meet the Blue Flag programme's requirement to warn the public when the beach was polluted by sewage. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 10/08/2010 ( Reads : 37 ) | Comments (0) | Pollution |
| Boat made from plastic bottles completes Pacific voyage |
| A boat made from thousands of plastic bottles has sailed into Sydney Harbour, completing a four-month voyage that began in San Francisco. The boat, called the Plastiki, was built using 12,500 plastic bottles. Its 9,000 mile (15,000 km) voyage aimed to raise awareness of the dangers posed to the environment by plastic waste. Hundreds of people turned out in Sydney to welcome the Plastiki and its crew of six. "It has been an extraordinary adventure," said expedition leader and environmentalist David de Rothschild. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 28/07/2010 ( Reads : 53 ) | Comments (0) | Pollution |
| ‘Gender bender’ chemicals pose a threat to fish |
| Northern Ireland’s rivers are being checked for ‘gender bending’ chemicals that could threaten the future of fish populations. Environment Minister Edwin Poots has revealed that 85 river sites are being monitored for di-n-butylphthalate, a chemical used to make hard plastics soft and is thought to have an anti-androgenic effect — inhibiting male sex hormones. Officials are also checking a small number of river sites for female hormones, which have been linked in a number of English rivers to gender changes in fish populations. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 19/07/2010 ( Reads : 91 ) | Comments (0) | Pollution |
| Illegal lfuel aundering plant pollutes marshland |
| A diesel laundering plant, hidden in a remote farm building, has polluted an extensive area of marshland in south Armagh. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) said it was capable of producing up to 1.75m litres of illicit fuel a year. The plant in Silverbridge, which was capable of evading over £1m in tax has been dismantled. HMRC has removed over 20,000 litres of toxic waste, the residue of the laundering process. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 18/06/2010 ( Reads : 100 ) | Comments (0) | Pollution |
| Irish beaches 'worst on Atlantic' |
| Ireland has been ranked as having the worst beaches of all European countries along the Atlantic Ocean. European environmental chiefs confirmed eight beaches, plus one inland bathing area, failed to meet minimum water quality standards in 2009. The EU water quality report, which features an online interactive map with more than 200,000 beaches and lakes around Europe, compared the 27 member states. For Ireland, it took data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which last week revealed 23 bathing spots have been highlighted over low water quality. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 11/06/2010 ( Reads : 100 ) | Comments (0) | Pollution |
| NI Water fined over river pollution |
| Northern Ireland Water has been fined £15,000 for polluting a tributary with poisonous and noxious substances. A water quality inspector who checked the waterway at Cidercourt Road, Crumlin, Co Antrim, in October 2008 found it was heavily discoloured. The source was traced to Laurelvale sewage pumping station, Crumlin, which was discharging to an unnamed tributary of the Crumlin River, Antrim Magistrates' Court was told. Northern Ireland Water said the pumping station was scheduled for inspection every four weeks, but the high sump analogue alarm which is triggered when levels rise to the point of overflow did not appear to have been set before the incident. A sample confirmed that the discharge contained poisonous, noxious and polluting matter which would have been potentially harmful to fish life in the receiving waterway.© BBC News // Read More // | |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 11/06/2010 ( Reads : 105 ) | Comments (0) | Pollution |
| County Tyrone fish kill is investigated |
| A fish kill in a number of rivers in County Tyrone is being investigated. It is believed thousands of fish have so far been killed as a result of pollution which was first discovered on Aghlisk river in Fintona on Monday. The pollution continued on downstream into the Owenreagh River and has now reached Drumragh River at Ballynahatty where fish are continuing to die. The Northern Ireland Loughs Agency is investigating and samples of the rivers have been taken. Aeration equipment has been used to re-oxygenate the water. "The agency are continually working since the report came in and the investigation is ongoing," its director of conservation John McCartney said. © BBC News // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 11/06/2010 ( Reads : 93 ) | Comments (1) | Pollution |
| Council says algae are causing brown sludge and foul smells in Dublin Bay |
| FOUL SMELLS and the appearance of brown sludge on beaches around Dublin Bay are the result of sunny weather and not sewage, Dublin local authorities have said. Residents in Dublin have in recent days reported sewage-like odours in the north and south bay areas, and stretching inland as far as Dundrum in south Dublin. Diggers have also been seen removing piles of foul-smelling, heavy brown sludge from Dollymount Strand on the north side of the bay. However, while the sludge has an appearance and smell similar to that of raw sewage, a spokesman for Dublin City Council said it was a naturally occurring algae which had overproduced because of the recent warm weather. "It's called ectocarpus. It's a naturally occurring algal bloom caused by high amounts of sunshine. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 23/05/2010 ( Reads : 146 ) | Comments (0) | Pollution |
| Brothers fined £10K over dumping |
| Two County Down brothers will each have to pay more than £10,000 after being found guilty of illegal dumping. John Taylor, 48, of Tamnaharry Hill, Mayobridge, and George Taylor, 50, of Greenan Road, Newry, trade as Taylor Civil Engineering. They were found guilty at Newry Crown Court of illegally dumping 250 tonnes of construction and demolition waste at George Taylor's Greenan Road site. As well as the £10,000 confiscation orders, they were both fined £550. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 19/05/2010 ( Reads : 118 ) | Comments (0) | Pollution |
| ‘Sea lettuce’ on beaches may cost council €1.5m |
AN algae which had plagued beaches in west Cork could cost €1.5 million - unless a use for the "sea lettuce" can be found. Cash-strapped Cork County Council officials are anxiously awaiting a response from the Environment Minister to their pleas for help dealing with the algae, which has blighted beaches at Inchydoney and Ring along with Harbour View and Coolmaine, both near Kilbrittain. A taskforce set up by the council has sent a report to Minister John Gormley on the problem, which is causing serious concern in the region. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 16/05/2010 ( Reads : 155 ) | Comments (0) | Pollution |
| Key tourist routes are littered - An Taisce |
| KEY ENTRY routes for tourists in Ireland are blighted with litter, the latest survey for Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) has found. The areas worst affected included the airport road and the M1 from the Port Tunnel in Dublin and the N25 Rosslare and N20 Limerick approach roads into Cork city. An Taisce, which monitors litter levels for IBAL, described the airport road in Dublin as an "appalling sight" for any tourist arriving in Ireland. // Read More // | |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 26/04/2010 ( Reads : 162 ) | Comments (0) | Pollution |
| A world without planes |
The philosopher, writer and recent writer-in-residence at Heathrow airport imagines a world without aircraft. In a future world without aeroplanes, children would gather at the feet of old men, and hear extraordinary tales of a mythic time when vast and complicated machines the size of several houses used to take to the skies and fly high over the Himalayas and the Tasman Sea. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 20/04/2010 ( Reads : 158 ) | Comments (0) | Pollution |
| Litter left on NI beaches doubles |
| The amount of litter dumped on Northern Ireland's beaches has almost doubled in the last year. That is the findings of the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) after their annual beach survey. The group said they were increasingly concerned over the amount of plastic litter being found. In September MCS volunteers visited 13 beaches in Northern Ireland for the annual litter pick and found over 1,700 items for every kilometre of beach. That is almost twice the amount of litter found in the previous year. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 26/03/2010 ( Reads : 230 ) | Comments (0) | Pollution |
| We are bequeathing a terrible nest egg to the environment |
| Strangford Lough is Northern Ireland’s first marine protected area — yet so much litter is now polluting its shores that the National Trust estimates that at least 10% of breeding birds are using our waste as nesting material. More worryingly, Trust wardens have also come across a number of fledglings that have been throttled by the litter making up their nests — plastic rope and fishing wire used in the fishing industry are the worst offenders. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 23/03/2010 ( Reads : 220 ) | Comments (0) | Pollution |
| Poots eyes tough new clean-up laws |
| Wide-ranging new powers to help clean up communities could see a ban on the sale of spray paint to children, Environment Minister Edwin Poots has said. Councils could get new powers to tackle dog fouling, nuisance noise, block off problem alleys and impose fines on law-breakers to help make communities safer and cleaner. The minister said that if councils adopted the powers currently used by local authorities in England and Wales, it could help tackle problems that affect the quality of life in neighbourhoods across Northern Ireland. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 09/03/2010 ( Reads : 222 ) | Comments (0) | Pollution |
| By-laws to target dogs, noisy pubs and car leaflets |
| Dog-free zones, fines of up to £500 for noisy pubs and designated areas where handing out advertising literature is banned are among a planned raft of new by-laws to equip Ulster’s councils to tackle anti-social behaviour. Stormont’s environment committee yesterday heard of plans to give councils powers to ban dogs from certain areas and to restrict the number of dogs that people can walk at any one time. Pubs that pose a noise nuisance could be fined up to £500, while noisy domestic offenders could be fined up to £100. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 19/02/2010 ( Reads : 275 ) | Comments (0) | Pollution |
| Car pollution must be cut by half in 15 years: report |
| The volume of emissions from road traffic must be halved by 2025 if Northern Ireland is to meet its climate change targets, official predictions have revealed. Further increases will significantly undermine the Executive's ability to meet its overall aims, a report from the Department for Regional Development (DRD) warned. Pollutants from transport increased significantly since 1990, affecting progress in other areas, the paper added. There has been a notable increase in rural driving and transport for construction materials. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 13/01/2010 ( Reads : 329 ) | Comments (0) | Pollution |
| Trawlermen who litter our shores: ‘the evidence is overwhelming’ |
A taskforce of determined volunteers has braved wintry conditions to clean up one of Co Down’s most notorious litter eyesores. As part of the Belfast Telegraph’s Big Clean-Up campaign we joined forces with a team of locals and staff from the Volunteer Development Agency to tackle the shore at Ardglass. There we found a shocking array of rubbish, much of it swept in on the tide — fishing boxes, net, plastic bags, endless food and drink bottles and at least 100 of the distinctive blue gloves used by fishermen. We even found an oil drum and a pair of fisherman’s overalls. The worst thing is that much of this waste is unnecessary — so many of the things we found could well have been reused. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 06/01/2010 ( Reads : 325 ) | Comments (0) | Pollution |
| Burning rubbish at home and in bonfires is illegal, warns EPA |
WITH Halloween just around the corner, the EPA and the Gardai have reminded households and businesses not to use bonfires or fireplaces to dispose of household waste or hazardous waste. Both the Gardai and the EPA have warned of the dangers of bonfires, which should not be lit too close to houses, sheds, trees, hedges fences or power cables. New regulations established in July 2009 have strengthened the law against backyard and fireplace burning. In essence the burning of household waste is prohibited unless you have a waste licence, and this includes burning household waste in a domestic fireplace. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 08/11/2009 ( Reads : 436 ) | Comments (0) | Pollution |
| Fury at DoE silence over Portrush pollution |
| Green groups and politicians have reacted with anger after the Department of Environment refused to divulge details of a major pollution incident that cost a prominent tourist attraction its ‘quality’ status. East Strand in Portrush, which attracts thousands of visitors every summer, is one of only two of Northern Ireland beaches which failed European bathing water standards. Environment Minister Edwin Poots said the Portrush beach failed the European test following a serious pollution incident but his department has refused to give details. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 06/11/2009 ( Reads : 443 ) | Comments (0) | Pollution |
