The Ringsend Treatment Plant has been over capacity for years and heavy rain leads to sewage (containing ecolai) being released into the Bay resulting in more than 1 in 5 Bay users becoming ill.  Merrion Strand has a PERMANENT SWIM BAN. Other swimming spots have regular bans: Seapoint, Whiterock, Killiney, Balbriggan to name just a few.

We need action
- Water quality testing is infrequent so there needs to be more frequent testing and all year round given people are swimming all year round now. Then the test results need to be published immediately, so people have timely information.

- The UV treatment filter at Ringsend needs to be turned on all year round, not just in summer months.

- Ultimately the Ringsend Treatment Plant needs to be upgraded ASAP.

Extensive research into data provided by Irish Water and local authorities in Dublin revealed that from 2017 to 2020, 8.875 million cubic metres of untreated sewage and storm waters was discharged into Dublin Bay from overflow tanks located at the Ringsend Wastewater Treatment Plant.

This figure does not include other significant discharges from the 410 Storm Water Overflows in the Dublin region whichare not measured but are thought to exceed the discharges from the plant. This equates to 3,550 full size Olympic 50 metre pools over the four year period and averages out at 74 Olympic pools full of untreated waste water each month!

Please sign our petition now!