Major discharge turns River Lee brown
The River Lee turned brown on the North Channel on the afternoon of Thursday, May 2. We don't know why yet.
Tourists trapsing around Cork city centre between the April showers which have carried over into May stopped to pause and look at major sediment discharge which turned the north channel of the River Lee a distinctive brown on the afternoon of Thursday, May 2.
Jack Coffey, an ecologist and vice chair of Zero Waste Ireland was passing by the Christy Ring Bridge on Thursday afternoon when he noticed the crowds peering into the river.
Jack told Tripe+Drisheen that one Scottish tourist said it wasn’t a great look for the city. Jack took several images of the discharge which turned the river a silty brown. He followed this up with several calls to report the incident.
His fist call was to Irish Water who told him to contact the local authority. Cork City Council logged details of the call according to Jack, but he followed it up with a call in Inland Fisheries Ireland, a statutory agency with responsibility for protecting fisheries.
Of the three calls, Jack said IFI were the most responsive. T+D have followed up with IFI for updates and if there were any reports of fish kills.
The River Bride enters the Lee at the point of where the discharge seemed to be coming from via a culvert. Somewhere between Blackpool Church and Maddens Buildings it splits into two, and is partly diverted into a large modern concrete culvert under N20 and partly following its older route under Watercourse Rd via a 19th century arch culvert.
You can report incidents such as the discharge to the Lee to the IFI on 0818 34 74 24
Tripe + Drisheen will update this story with more information when we get it.
Update: A spokesperson for the IFI told T+D that IFI staff continue to monitor the river, but there is no sign of impact to fish or habitats currently. There may be some works taking place on the river by another agency, but that's to be confirmed.
Key contacts:
IFI: info@fisheriesireland.ie
Uisce Éireann: 1800 278 278
