Swimming restrictions at Buncrana likely to remain in place for years to come

Swimming restrictions at Lady’s Bay, Buncrana’s popular shorefront beach, look set to continue into 2026 and beyond after water quality tests carried out this summer returned the worst result in four years.

Despite major investment in Buncrana’s sewerage network, including ongoing upgrades to the town’s wastewater treatment plant scheduled for completion later this year, water quality remains an issue.

A test conducted on 27 May classified water quality as merely sufficient, marking the lowest rating since August 2021, when a discharge from the Railway Road treatment plant caused a poor result.

Bathing water is classified under four categories: excellent, good, sufficient, and poor.

Between 27 May and 24 June, six water quality tests were carried out at Lady’s Bay. Of those, two returned excellent, three were good, and one was sufficient.

On 1 July, Donegal County Council issued an additional 72-hour swimming prohibition due to a spike in E. coli levels, caused by stormwater overflows following heavy rainfall.

Read more: Buncrana's shorefront under swimming restrictions, again

Uisce Éireann (formerly Irish Water), the national utility responsible for water and wastewater services, explained that intense rainfall in late May overwhelmed the sewer system and stormwater pumping stations. This led to emergency discharges into the river and sea on 27 May to prevent flooding of homes, roads, and public areas with wastewater.

The company has completed major works in Buncrana, including three kilometres of sewer upgrades and a new large capacity stormwater storage tank at Westbrook Pumping Station, commissioned in April. Work on upgrading the wastewater treatment plant on the Railway Road is scheduled for completion later this year.

Uisce Éireann stressed that stormwater overflows are typically short-term events and are quickly diluted by rain, tides, and wind without lasting effects.

The improvement in water test results after late May supports that contention, but the advice from public health authorities against swimming at Lady's Bay remains - for a fourth consecutive summer.

Lifting the prohibition will require sustained water quality improvements over three consecutive bathing seasons, with no pollution events caused by rainfall, sewage, or other sources.

Although most attention has focused on the sewerage upgrades as a panacea to solve all problems at Lady’s Bay, Uisce Éireann notes that other factors can affect water quality, including road runoff, misconnections, private septic tanks, point discharges, and animal waste.

Lady’s Bay is one of only two designated beaches in the Republic where swimming is currently advised against due to the risk of waterborne illness. The other beach is at Sandymount, south of Dublin city centre.

However, there is good news elsewhere in Inishowen.

Beaches at Lisfannon, Shroove, and Culdaff have all recorded excellent results in every test carried out this summer.

This is especially promising for Lisfannon, which lost its Blue Flag in 2017 following several sub-par water quality results in the mid-2010s. If current trends continue through this summer and into next, the beach could be eligible for the prestigious environmental award once again.