Council wants to know your favourite swim spot

SEA, lake and river swimmers are being encouraged to tell Cork County Council about where they like to take a dip.

Local authorities must identify official bathing areas in their area every year so that they can be monitored for safety, water quality and their level of use.

To help with this process, Cork County Council is asking people who swim at beaches, lakes and rivers to tell them if they think they should maintain existing designated bathing waters designations or give a new official bathing area designation to areas that are commonly used for swimming, but not identified at the moment.

Under European and Irish law, Irish local authorities must identify bathing waters each year so that these areas can be monitored to ensure they meet stringent microbiological water quality standards. In some cases, the official bathing areas are also the areas where local authorities focus their resources providing lifeguards during the summer season.  These laws also require that the local authority prepares detailed descriptions or profiles for each of the identified bathing sites that describe, not just the bathing area but also areas in the surface water’s catchment area that could be a source of pollution.

The profiles include an assessment the risk of pollution and what action would be taken if pollution occurs. To propose a new site, or comment on an existing site, forward submissions to [email protected] before June 9th.