Putting the Cart Before The Horse Again: Environmental Management in West Cork

After years of procrastination and little headway I was delighted to read in the Southern Star Newspaper and other local print media of the proposals by Clonakilty Chamber of Tourism for addressing the enrichment and eutrophication of coastal waters in Courtmacsherry and Clonakilty bay and environs that result in the environmental scourge of sea lettuce which despoils our beaches and coastal environment.

In addressing the sea lettuce problem a number of factors must be examined:

• the first being what is the cause of the sea lettuce problem and
• subsequently what solution is required to protect our local economy and environment, bays, and beaches from the presence of rotting sea lettuce.

It would appear that from reports in the press that the proposed solution is:

• to harvest the sea lettuce from the beaches, bays and mudflats;
• to dewater and dry the sea lettuce and process it into a power and transport it to Galway as a raw material for animal feed.

One must however examine any proposal in light of how will it address the problem of nutrient enrichment and protection of our coastal environment?

This proposal will address neither. The proposal does nothing to deal with the problem of pollution of surface waters that is in itself the cause of sea lettuce in the first place. The proposed “solution” will require amongst other items the construction of a large drier, dewatering and processing plant and the haulage of by-product to Galway. It will also require the provision of a waste water treatment plant to treat the process waters and where insufficient sea lettuce may be collected in the area, the possible importation of sea lettuce from china, transportation to Clonakilty for processing and subsequent haulage to Galway for final packaging. The process in itself is energy intensive from waste collection to transport and processing. But will the proposal prevent eutrophication of our coastal waters? It will most certainly not.

The proposal while addressing the fouling of our beaches does not provide a sustainable solution to the problem, rather a cosmetic band aid to remove the offending sea lettuce from our environment without addressing the lack of waste treatment infrastructure and treatment of industrial, domestic and agricultural waste that is the source of the problem.

It must be noted that the existence of sea lettuce on our beaches and estuaries in West Cork is a direct result of the coastline being used a dumping ground for our collective wastes, wastes that contain inorganic nutrients in particular nitrogen and phosphate.

The problem of sea lettuce can becomes particular difficult when effluents are discharged into semi enclosed bays such as Countmacsherry and Clonakilty bay. This can become destructive to the environment (as we have witnessed) when the discharges involve mudflats that are exposed at low tides.

The response of seagrass to high levels of nutrients (eutrophication) is well documented. Generally speaking the higher levels of nitrogen in the environment will result in higher levels of sea grass biomass. The problem of seagrass and continued deterioration of our coastal waters will not however be dealt with until we have addressed management of our waste from towns, villages, industry and agriculture in particular landspreading of waste and fertiliser application.

Harvesting of sea lettuce is not a solution to the problem, it provides nothing more than a temporary band-aid to relieve the most sensitive amenity areas, it addresses the symptoms of eutrophication nor the cure and in some cases the harvesting of the sea lecttuce may pose other environmental and socio economic problems.

It must be acknowledged that the euthrophication of Clonakilty and Courtmacsherry bay is a result of rapid urbanisation without proper controls put in place to address waste management. There are no waste water system existing for Courtmacsherry, Timoleague, and the plant in Clonakilty as mentioned is totally inadequate to deal with the volume of waste generated. Furthermore both bays are surrounded by agricultural lands which themselves contribute to euthrophication by the spreading of fertiliser and slurry providing much needed nutrients to further aid the spread of macro algae.

Only by a reduction in nutrient loading into our coastal waters can one deal with the problem of macro algae and sea lettuce properly.

Clonakilty waste water treatment plant (WWTP) currently only has the capacity to treat the pollution equivalent (nutrient loading) of 5000 people; at the height of the summer the waste load generated in Clonakilty requiring treatment is equal to about 24,000 people, what this means in essence is that the plant is overloaded by more than 500%. On a typical day the waste generated in Clonakilty would be in the region of a population load of 8000 people. In essence untreated waste is discharged into our coastal environment from Clonakilty WWTP generally speaking 24hrs a day 246 days of the year, with the maximum during the summer months when the problem with macro algae and sea lettuce is at its worst.

Cork County Council currently have plans to upgrade the sewage treatment works in Clonakilty but these plans do not provide for tertiary treatment to remove the excessive nutrients that cause eutrophication. Given the eutrophication in the bay this is totally inadequate. The application for a licence for the proposed development has now been with the Environmental Protection Agency since 2007 and the Agency have sought for further information to be provided by Cork County Council. Information that has yet to be provided.

The Water Framework Directive requires that all coastal and inland water must be brought back to good quality standards. Only by developing an integrated waste management system to deal with all the wastes generated in the environs of Courtmacsherry, Timoleague and Clonakilty can we hope to develop tourism and manage our natural resources sustainable.

This must be done in consultation with Regulatory Authorities including the EPA and National Parks and Wildlife service and the Department of the Environment. The responsibility lies with the County Council as the authority with responsibility for planning and development in addition to operation of waste water treatment infrastructure.

Building a sea lettuce processing plant is not the answer to the problem, the answer is investment in waste water treatment infrastructure.

Until the public see such investment we will continue to witness the devastating impact of poor waste management on our environment which will continue to degrade our water environment, tourism, fishing and amenities.

The fate of our coastal waters lies not in harvesting sea lettuce but in managing our waste.

Declan Waugh

Chartered Water Manager and Environmental Scientist