Irish Water attend scene of 'major' river pollution incident

Anglers concerned about a major incident of pollution on a Donegal river welcomed the arrival of Irish Water engineers onsite.

Donegal Live understands the incident involved a major sewerage discharge into the Crana River in Buncrana in Inishowen.

Speaking to Donegal Live, one of the anglers said Irish Water engineers were present and dealing with the pollution at approximately 11.30am on Tuesday past (April 14, 2020).

The angler said: “It is suspected the discharge may have been going on for the past fortnight.

“The reason it was not detected was because of the area in which the discharge was taking place. It was just out the Cockhill Road, in an extremely overgrown area of a field, in front of the Red Row houses.

“Where the discharge was happening could not be seen from the road itself. In addition, because of the coronavirus restrictions currently in place, there was no-one out fishing.

“However, anyone going around the river might have noticed the tell-tale signs of a smell and what we would call a ‘flatness’ on the water and, wrongly, put it down to low water and slurry spreading up the river. Thankfully, Irish Water was on the scene as soon as it was made aware of the situation, about 6.00pm on Easter Monday. The cause of the discharge is believed to be a mains sewer, which was completely or partially blocked. Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), was also made aware of the incident,” said the angler.