THE popular Inch Mile sea swim off the coast of Rathmullan didn’t happen in August due to unacceptable levels of harmful bacteria in the water.
Rathmullan Beach was one of the Irish bathing spots hit with a high number of swimming restrictions (33 days) this year, analysis from Noteworthy, the investigative platform from The Journal has found.
More than 1,600 bathing restrictions from the last ten years were analysed for Noteworthy’s Red Flag investigation. The exclusive in-depth report reveals the extent of swimming restrictions hit over half of all Irish bathing waters this summer.
The investigation features the cancellation of the Inch Mile swim as well as the high number of restrictions to hit Lough Swilly bathing spots this summer.
Restrictions range from swimming bans, when water is polluted, to warnings, when the pollution risk is high but the water hasn’t yet been tested.
The Inch Mile swimmers are caught between two points where sewage enters the sea: Rathmullan village itself and from untreated wastewater flowing out from Buncrana across Lough Swilly. Further inland along the coast, raw sewage is also released at Ramelton, the report found.
According to the findings, bathing waters in Bundoran and Lisfannon were restricted 30 days and 28 days, respectively, during the season from June 1 to September 15. Donwnings and Lady’s Bay Buncrana both had 27 days restrictions, while Portarthur in Derrybeg and Portnablagh both had 22 days of bathing water restrictions.
A number of bathing waters in Donegal did not have any restrictions, including, Portsalon, Murvagh, Marble Hill and Stroove.
While almost 80 per cent of Ireland’s bathing water was classed as excellent in 2022, a wave of bans have hit swimming spots across the country in recent years due to water quality issues linked to pollution, algae and our changing climate.
The number of days on which Ireland’s official bathing spots have been restricted has a lmost tripled in the past decade. The number of days with prior warning notices due to rain reached the highest it’s ever been this summer, according to the investigative analysis.
Despite legal requirements to improve bathing water quality, there are still 26 spots around Ireland where raw sewage is pumped into the environment and 15 wastewater treatment plants that fail to meet EU standards. Swimmers are especially impacted when these factors are combined with heavy rain.
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