Irish Water deploy Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers on Lough Foyle

Irish Water and the Loughs' Agency have clarified the nature of the activity taking place on Lough Foyle.

The move followed last week's visible retrieval of a sizeable piece of equipment from the sea bed at Carnagarve, midway between Moville and Greencastle.

The Loughs' Agency was one of the six North / South Implementation Bodies established under the Good Friday Agreement. Its remit covers the water catchment areas of Lough Foyle and Carlingford Lough, which are sea loughs.

In a statement to Donegal Live in response to a query regarding the equipment, the Loughs' Agency said: “Loughs' Agency provided a permit to MREC Environmental, working on behalf of Irish Water to undertake survey work investigating the ecology of the sea bed of Lough Foyle, near Moville. The survey work included 10 day grab samples and 9 intertidal core samples.

“Loughs' Agency issued the permit subject to a number of conditions, which included the return of any commercial bivalve species.”

Loughs' Agency confirmed the retrieval of the equipment from the sea bed of Lough Foyle was “not survey work being undertaken by MERC Environmental.

The Loughs' Agency statement continued: “Loughs' Agency has a specific remit for the protection and conservation of the inland fisheries of the Foyle and Carlingford areas. The Agency provides permits for work that involves the taking of fish or shellfish for scientific purposes.

“The deployment of monitoring equipment or survey work that does not include the taking of fish or shellfish is not an activity that can be subject to an application for a permit or licence by the Agency.

“In relation to concerns about shipping hazards, these are matters for other maritime agencies.

“The Agency did not receive a Marine Notice to alert that the monitoring equipment in question was being placed in Lough Foyle,” said the Loughs' Agency.

Irish Water also confirmed to Donegal Live that “permits were not necessary for the work carried out by that vessel.”

The Utility added that the “permits Irish Water obtained from Loughs' Agency were for other surveys.”

Irish Water added: “Irish Water is progressing plans to develop much-needed wastewater infrastructure in Moville, County Donegal.

“At present, Moville has no municipal wastewater treatment facilities and the discharge of untreated wastewater into the Bredagh River has seen it classified as being 'Seriously Polluted' by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“In order to progress this project, survey works, including sampling, water profiling and current measurement were undertaken. The current recording equipment used for these works included Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers, which rest on the bed of Lough Foyle. All survey results are then fed into a dispersion model, which allow us to design the proposed Wastewater Treatment Plant and determine likely effluent discharge standards.

“The Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers equipment has all now been removed from Lough Foyle. All required permissions / permits for survey work were obtained, including a Section 69 sampling permit from the Loughs' Agency. A licence was not required from the Loughs' Agency for the Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers deployment. There are no further planned marine investigations for 2019 under the Section 69 sampling permit,” concluded the Irish Water Statement.