22-06-2025
North Cork anglers fear local river has been polluted again
A member of Kanturk & District Trout Anglers told The Corkman they fear the river, a tributary of the Munster Blackwater, has been polluted with a substance endangering marine wildlife.
"There appears to be sludge on the bed of the river, and there are a lot of dead or dying insects. Some trout were observed in a very distressed state," the trout angler said.
The angling club has notified Inland Fisheries Ireland and the Environmental Protection Agency.
"We have a very active club with over 30 juvenile members and this incident has taken place where we hold our angling training sessions every Tuesday," the angler said.
In June last year, a discharge of Polyaluminium Chloride — an acidic solution used in the water treatment process - from the Uisce Éireann Water Treatment Plant at Freemount, near Kanturk, led to the deaths of at least 5,000 fish in the River Allow.
The chemical spill affected an 8km stretch of the river and species of fish discovered dead after the leak included juvenile Atlantic salmon, brown trout, lamprey, eel, stone loach, roach, and dace.
Uisce Éireann was convicted of permitting or causing deleterious matter to fall into the waters of the river at Mallow District Court last December and it was fined €3,500.
