Bringing Mayo's Water to Dublin

mayo | environment | news report

Saturday April 29, 2006 02:07

by Shell to Sea - Dublin Shell to Sea

dublinshelltosea at gmail dot com

0876181620

Shell to Sea bring samples of contaminated water to the Dept of the Environment in Dublin.

Erris drinking water comes from Carrowmore Lake. The lake is becoming heavily contaminated with aluminium as a by-product of the removal of peat from the site of the giant gas refinery that Shell seek to construct at Beal an Átha Buí (known in English as Ballinaboy or Bellinaboy).

As a part of Shell's scheme the company's contractors have had to transfer tons of peat from Beal an Átha Buí to a facility owned and operated by Bord na Móna at Srahmore. Underneath the top layer of peat is a substance called dobe, which has a very high aluminium content. Rain causes pools of aluminium contaminated water on the site to overflow and run into nearby Carrowmore Lake. Carrowmore Lake is the source of Mayo County Council's drinking water supply for the Erris area.

Controversy has raged about the condition of the drinking water in Erris, since it was found that the water treatment machinery that Shell's contractors are using has never worked to its full capacity. Shell to Sea observers have recorded that the machinery meant to purify the water has rarely worked at all.

The local authority has claimed that there is no problem with the water in Carrowmore Lake. The Council's own testing regime has detected high aluminium content in the drinking water, but instead of properly investigating, they have claimed that this is a consequence of human error in the laboratory.

Campaigners from Shell to Sea set up a table on Friday at lunchtime at the pedestrian entrance to the the Customs House and offered glasses of water from the Erris drinking water supply to staff of the Department of the Environment and Local Government as they leave for lunch.

An invitation to attend the water tasting event was sent to Environment Minister Dick Roche, but no reply was received, and of course he didn't appear.

Unsurprisingly, no one accepted the offer of a glass of water, nor did anyone from the Department come out to speak to the protesters.

water stall set up at the Customs House

The construction of the giant refinery inland is part of the scheme to process the gas onshore rather than on an offshore rig, as is the normal practice. Shell and their partners Statoil and Marathon seek to transport raw untreated gas to the refinery site by means of an experimental pipeline system. Protests over the scheme led to the imprisonment of five men from the area for three months last year. The Rossport Five were recently told that they would face no further court action, but have been held liable for Shell's legal costs, estimated to run to hundreds of thousands of euro.

Dublin Shell to Sea campaigners recently blockaded Shell's Dublin Office by chaining bicycles together outside and locking the front door. Last month they delivered a twenty foot long section of pipeline to the Statoil office in the IFSC. Further protests are planned for next month around the time of Norwegian Constitution Day (May 17th), focusing on Norway's part in the exploitation of Ireland's natural resources .

This weekend the campaign is having a fundraiser at the Cobblestone pub in Smithfield on Sunday evening with Vincent McGrath and Micheál Ó Seighin of the Rossport Five playing traditional music, and joined by the Rossport Reel, Seán Garvey, and Mary Mullen. See http://www.indymedia.ie/article/75500.

For more information on Dublin Shell to Sea or to get on the mailing list for events, send an email to DublinShelltoSea@gmail.com.

would you like some Erris water? The Dept of the Environment say it's fine...

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Comments (7 of 7)

We couldn't give away Erris water...

by S2S

Sat Apr 29, 2006 02:18

No takers for the water, but lots of people wanted information about Mayo County Council's lack of action to stop the poisoning of the drinking water in Erris by Shell.

water stall at the Customs House, April 28th 2006

Confused

by supp

Sat Apr 29, 2006 02:57

I presume the brown water is that which comes out directly out of the lake and the clear water is what comes out of local taps??? filtered to some extent although is still polluted with aluminum above safety levels?

Water

by Tadhg -Shell to Sea

Sat Apr 29, 2006 12:22

We had a few different types of water- some from the pools around the refinery site, some from the lake, and some from the tap. We also had a bottle of Kilkenny Spring water in case people wanted to do a blind test, but no one took us up on it.

The aluminium content in all the samples from Mayo is too high.

Mayo County Council say their filter system is taking care of the extra aluminium in the lake, but Shell to Sea argue that it's not designed to this.

The council had the water tested on February 1st, and this test found Aluminium levels in the tap water 25% over the limit , but they said that this result was caused by a mistake in the lab!

Many people in the area served by water from Carrowmore Lake are no longer drinking the tap water, and they don't accept the Council's assurance that it is safe. The Council's Offices are served by a water filter system, so they're not drinking it either.

More photos of action at Custom House

by William H

Tue May 02, 2006 00:36

Throwing away Rossport drinking water

Out with the aluminium

The effects of drinking aluminium

Playing dead for the press

Last five photos of action at Custom House

Tue May 02, 2006 01:03

Table

Terence offering drinking water from his kitchen

A passerby with a genuine Shell T-Shirt

Terence canvasses a hen-party

A close-up (meant to put that in further up)

rossport water?

by what!

Tue May 02, 2006 01:20

in one of your captions(pictures) there is something about throwing away Rossport water, well just to inform people from outside our area, Rossport have there own water source and it is not from Carrowmore Lake, just thought that should be clarified;

Water tests

by Al

Tue May 09, 2006 14:50

How much Aluminium is in the water?

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Bringing Mayo's Water to Dublin

Comments (7 of 7)