Shocking indifference to catastrophic Blackwater pollution is a sign of the times

One of the fish affected by the recent fish kill in the River Blackwater, Co Cork. File picture: Dan Linehan

IT is almost a month since something around 50,000 fish – primarily trout and the vanishing remnants of a decimated salmon population – were killed in the River Blackwater. The catastrophe has the unenviable status of being the worst fish kill in the history of this Republic. To date, it has not been possible, despite the efforts of four State agencies and a visit by Minister Timmy Dooley supported by the usual platoon of hangers on, to identify the origin of the deadly toxin. Any meaningful legal response becomes more unlikely with every day that passes. 

Once again, the perpetrators of an environmental/social catastrophe may avoid consequences. We are dangerously close to that dead-end cliché: There are lessons to be learned. Will they ever be learned?

The immediate response was entirely predictable and justified. Anglers and conservationists were outraged and couldn’t imagine penalties severe enough for those responsible. Suspicions around who might be culpable quickly became beliefs, a process fuelled by the shameful record of North Cork Co-operative Creameries. This milk processor has been convicted of myriad breaches of legislation and the terms of its Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) licences. That the adjacent River Allow, a Special Area of Conservation, had in June 2024 been decimated by a chemical spill at an Uisce Eireann plant at Freemount added to a tinderbox atmosphere.

As late as February, 2024 North Cork Co-op pleaded guilty to eight charges of breaching the conditions of its emissions licence. Water samples taken by the EPA at its facility after the fish kill found that ammonia levels 52 times the legal limit, and orthophosphate levels two-and-a-half times above the limit, were dumped into the River Allow during a ten-hour period on the night of the fish kill. The EPA has made eight site visits to the creamery since June 24. Since then, the EPA has issued 22 non-compliance notices to the Co-op including 13 related to breaches of emissions limit values. How many breaches before the plant is closed? 122?

Despite that litany, the EPA this week exonerated the milk processor saying it does not believe the creamery could have caused the fish kill.

CLIMATE & SUSTAINABILITY HUB

The agency said it had expanded its investigation following the findings of a Marine Institute study indicating that a waterborne “irritant” was likely to have caused or contributed to the carnage and that exposure may have occurred in the days before August 12. The expanded investigation includes discharges from EPA-regulated sites that may have occurred over a wider date range in the catchment.

Those sorry realities are some of the incomplete and uncertain nuts and bolts of the tragedy but maybe it’s time to broaden the context so those infamous lessons might be learned.

Local conservationist and angler Conor Arnold, chairman of Killavullen Anglers who has been at the forefront of the reactions to the kill, hit the nail on the head when he said: 

It took too long to get test results. All procedures took too long. 

"There was no health warning. The seriousness of the situation - we cannot allow it to be replicated anywhere else.

“We are appalled and outraged … the lack of urgency and protocols implemented by the IFI and the EPA are unacceptable. The test results published last Friday are incomplete and raise more questions than answers. We have asked for accountability, but that does not seem to be forthcoming. Whatever the investigation establishes, the catastrophe highlights a systemic failure by the state bodies to protect our waterways.”

That response highlights again our enthusiasm for enacting laws but not enforcing them. It also highlights the urgent need for a single powerful agency to take responsibility for the waterways. The current system means that at least four State agencies are chasing the same ghost under disparate, and sometimes conflicting legislative schemes. 

Salmon Watch Ireland said: 'The Blackwater, designated under the EU Habitats Directive for salmon, lamprey, and freshwater pearl mussel, is not only an ecological jewel but also a cultural and economic lifeline for the region.' File picture: Dan Linehan

The Fisheries Consolidation Act 1959 and the Local Government (Water Pollution) Act 1977 are the primary legislative instruments under which polluters are prosecuted. The ’59 act has been recognised as not fit for purpose for years, but a replacement is long awaited. Who benefits from that inconclusive melee?

One of the things that could easily be done would be what’s done in Iceland - placing permanent pollution monitors in all vulnerable rivers. These relatively cheap alarms provoke phone alerts once an unexpected event is detected.

This would be a plausible response even if it is all too easy to imagine who might oppose it. It would also obviate unfounded assessments which early in this saga erroneously pointed to the possibility of a fungal infection causing the calamity.

Salmon Watch Ireland have pointed out that “agriculture remains the dominant long-term pressure on the catchment, the scale and suddenness of this tragedy may suggest that an acute pollution event possibly linked to wastewater, industry, or an accidental discharge may have tipped an already fragile river system into collapse. 

"The Blackwater, designated under the EU Habitats Directive for salmon, lamprey, and freshwater pearl mussel, is not only an ecological jewel but also a cultural and economic lifeline for the region. This kill has underlined just how vulnerable the river has become.” 

Salmon Watch refers to research presented at the Teagasc Dairy Conference 2024 which shows that our water quality is under strain. Just over half of our rivers meet Good Status. In the Blackwater catchment, 66% of waters are High/Good, but nitrate levels remain persistently high (average ~3 mg/l N at Lismore Bridge) — above the 1.8 mg/l N threshold for good health. 

The general indifference to this catastrophe is deeply shocking as if it had nothing to do with everyday life for those who depend on the Blackwater and other water systems for drinking water and so much more. File picture: Dan Linehan

Agriculture is the dominant contributor (more than 80%) of nitrogen loads, but cumulative pressures from wastewater, urban run-off, and potential industrial releases make the system highly vulnerable. Teagasc also recorded that over 20% of farms exceed 170 kg N/ha organic loading, with some sub-catchments exceeding 30–40%.

In light of those figures the Government’s support for the extension of the EU nitrates derogation – the very last one in Europe – is impossible to defend. That so many of this island’s lakes – especially Lough Neagh - are fighting the invasion of algae because of nitrates puts that issue well beyond any debate.

So too is our struggling network of water treatment plants. Uisce Eireann figures dealing with Cork treatment plants paint a grim picture. 

Among 150 facilities, 28 of them have a Red Status which means that no spare capacity is available so new developments cannot be considered. The agency gives an Amber Status to around 25 sites, signifying limited capacity. The rest, just under 100, have spare capacity, though anyone familiar with the state of the Blackwater downstream of Mallow might find that assessment generous. I’ve fished the river for over four decades but have not been there since last year when what I believed were human turds bounced around my legs as I waded the river.

Indifference

Our planning system, where objections to water plants are routine, is part of the problem as is the phenomenal cost of these facilities. However, the elephant in the room is our disastrous rejection of water charges. A significant majority recognised the need to pay for water to sustain a viable system.

But maybe the biggest change needed is cultural rather than structural. The general indifference to this catastrophe is deeply shocking as if it had nothing to do with everyday life for those who depend on the Blackwater and other water systems for drinking water and so much more. 

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

Our tacit acceptance that industry and business can carry on as normal despite these ravages needs to change quickly. The Blackwater fish kill is part ecological disaster, part culture war, part climate change confrontation and, worst of all, a gross denial of responsibility. After all, we must pass a tenable world to our children if they are to have children.

Maybe it’s time to update that adage signalling danger – the canary in the coalmine. If we updated it to say “the fish in the river”, it would be far more relevant to the times we live in. 

After all, if we can’t save the rivers and all the creatures that live in them what hope do we have of saving ourselves from the multiple threats of human-generated environmental degradation, instability and dwindling sustainability?

• Jack Power is a former associate editor of the Irish Examiner and an angler