Government funding of €700,000 has been granted to Wexford County Council for its coordinating role in restoring the ecological condition of Lady’s Island lake.
As previously reported by Afloat, the serious condition of the lake was highlighted in a series of reports, most recently by an Aquafact team involving Brendan O’Connor, Geoff Oliver, Tony Cawley, Cilian Roden, Philip Perrin, Rutger de Witt, Kevin McCaffrey and Aisha O’Connor.
The teams’ report, entitled The Coastal Lagoon: Ecology and Restoration, identified serious water quality problems in Lady’s Island lake, primarily due to nutrient pollution.
It had been co-funded by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) co-funded this report to better understand the extent to which Lady’s Island Lake has been polluted by nutrients and the impact of this on its ecology.
The saline lagoon, located in south Wexford, is protected under the EU’s Habitats Directive as a priority habitat.
It is designated as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) for lagoon and other habitats, and as a Special Protection Area (SPA) for a number of bird species, including four species of terns that nest on the lake’s islands.
It is currently classified as having “poor ecological status (2016-2021)”, and “poor or bad status” has been reported by the EPA for Lady’s Island Lake since 2009 largely due to elevated levels of nutrients.
Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage James Browne and Minister for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity Christopher O’Sullivan visited the lake last week to announce the funding.
The two ministers met with officials from Wexford County Council, LAWPRO, NPWS, Teagasc, representatives from Farming for Water EIP and the Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (ASSAP).
The tranche of €700,000 in funding to Wexford County Council will support the development of a Water Quality Management Plan for Lady’s Island and help to project manage their continued coordination of the holistic approach required to improve Lady’s Island, their department said.
It will include measures required to “address excess nutrients from agriculture, domestic wastewater treatment plants (septic tanks) and urban waste water treatment plant(s) entering the lake”, the department said.
“This requires very close engagement between Wexford County Council, LAWPRO, the Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory (ASSAP), the Farming for Water EIP and Uisce Éireann,”it said.
“This combined response will harness the combined strength and expertise of these organisations and their staff to put in place actions to improve the lake’s condition,”it said.
