Tipperary rivers ‘in trouble’ as everything from dead calves to nappies found dumped
The Nenagh River is “in trouble” due to illegal dumping, a local councillor has claimed, with everything from nappies to dead calves being pulled out of the north Tipperary river.
At the January meeting of the Nenagh Municipal District, councillors were given a presentation by representatives from the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) on water conservation and protection efforts around the district.
Following the presentation, independent councillor Séamie Morris raised issues with the Nenagh River, which runs from Silvermines, through Nenagh and into Lough Derg.
"The Nenagh River is in trouble, and the one thing I notice when I look into the river is discharge pipes,” Cllr Morris said.
"There’s discharge pipes all over the place and not all of them are registered,” he added.
Illegal dumping is also a massive issue in rivers across Tipperary, Cllr Morris said, adding that council workers that he had spoken to told him that they were pulling all sorts of items out of the river, including dead animals.
"I know the lads doing work on the rivers at the moment, and they’re telling me they’re taking out everything – dead dogs to dead calves, and nappies – everything is being thrown into our rivers, absolutely everything,” Cllr Morris said.
"And they’re the lads who have to clean the rivers and they have to face that, so I’d ask everyone to stop. Now, I know the odd time a calf can fall into the river itself, but people need to stop throwing dead animals into our rivers, it’s not a dumping ground,” he added.
Agreeing with his district colleague, independent councillor Michael O’Meara said that rivers across the county have seen decreases in water quality, but added that as a farmer himself, he has never heard of dead calves being thrown in the river.
"Farmers have to work under the strictest guidelines, and I’d be surprised if farmers are throwing calves into the rivers, I’ve never seen it, and I know that every animal on a farm has to be accounted for.
"Not accounted once, but ten times, so I don’t want the message going out that people are throwing calves into the rivers, I’ve never seen it, and I’ve seen a lot of rivers in my time, and as farmers, we work under extremely strict guidelines,” Cllr O’Meara added.
In response, a representative from LAWPRO said that a lot of work is being done on discharge pipes in an effort to protect the county’s rivers.
"There is a lot of work being done on those discharge pipes trying to understand where they are, what they’re from, and that ties into the work that the nature-based solutions are doing,” the meeting was told.
"Those discharge pipes are very often at the end of pipes running through urban areas, and trying to reduce some of those retention areas upstream so that there is a level of treatment going on, but also to slow that flow,” councillors were told.