5,000 fish dead in River Allow

Anglers in North Cork have described the scenes following a chemical spillage which killed thousands of fish as “shocking beyond all words”.

On Sunday, Uisce Éireann informed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of a spillage of polyaluminium chloride (PAC) at the Freemount Wastewater Treatment Plant which had discharged into the River Allow near Kanturk.

Th EPA confirmed that approximately 2,500 litres of PAC were discharged into the River Allow from a burst pipe at the Freemount plant.

According to the Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), more than 5,000 fish died as a result of the spillage.

Following the incident, the IFI launched an investigation into what caused the pollution event, and to assess the extent of the impact on the local environment.

The incident occurred in a Special Area of Conservation, and the location is a noted spawning habitat for fish.

Species of fish discovered dead include juvenile Atlantic salmon, brown trout, lamprey, eel, stone loach, roach, and dace.

A tributary of the Munster Blackwater catchment, the River Allow was to be the venue for the Trout Anglers Federation of Ireland Senior Interprovincial River Championships which has now been cancelled.

Organisers of the prestigious event, the Kanturk and District Trout Anglers Association, said it was “just heart-breaking” to see a river that has been nurtured so much to be absolutely decimated.

“Further up at Freemount Bridge in the vicinity of the Irish Water treatment plant, there was no sign of life whatsoever either living or dead, as if any history of life was erased from the river,” said the group in a statement.

“All aquatic life was decimated and hundreds of dead trout, coarse fish, lampreys etc could be seen from the bridge,” they added.

In a statement on Tuesday, Uisce Éireann, formerly Irish Water, said it was carrying out investigations as well as a clean-up operation at Freemount Water Treatment Plant.

The state-owned utility said: “Uisce Éireann fully recognises the seriousness of this incident and we immediately informed the relevant bodies and are co-operating fully with Inland Fisheries Ireland in relation to the investigation and clean-up of this incident. The EPA and National Parks & Wildlife Service have also been notified, and measures have been taken to ensure there can be no further discharge from the plant.”

Uisce Éireann went on to assure the local community that there has been no impact on the quality of drinking water as the spillage occurred downstream of the intake point for the plant.