Oil spill in Limerick

Kess73

Big oil spill in the River Deel in County Limerick. A number of towns and villages are completely without running water now, but even worse will be the damage down to nature.

I imagine pretty much everything from where the spill entered the Deel right down to the Shannon estaury will be killed. Plus there will be the damage such heavy grade oil will do once it enters the Shannon (most likely it already has by now) and gets brought in and out on the tides.


Smaller rivers that enter the estuary like the White river etc will all be at risk as will birds, fish, mammals etc that live in and around those rivers.

Going to be in that area a few times over the weekend so will be keeping an eye out for birds etc that are in trouble, if anyone else is in the area maybe they can do likewise if out for walks etc and maybe a few animals can be saved by getting brought to vets or put out of their misery by being brought in to be put down if they are too far gone.

trebor28

how did it happen?

Birdnuts

Saw this on the news - those responsible I hope are hit with heavy fines and cover the full coast of the clean up and restocking. No excuse for such slopiness in this day and age:mad:

Kess73

trebor28 wrote: »

how did it happen?

Leak or spillage from a business in Castlemahon. Means that pretty much every bit of the Deel that is within Limerick county is going to be dead, and now that it has been confirmed that the oil entered the water near Castlemahon I would imagine the River Arra, which flows through Newcastle West before entering the Deel, is also at risk.

Seems that it is a heavy grade oil so it will be pushed back up neaby rivers by the tide, and will remain on banks when the tide is out in spots like Askeaton and of course in the river Shannon itself. Depending on how big the spill actually is, the damage could make it's way right up to Limerick city and right out the estuary between Clare and Kerry. Given how quickly the water supply for West Limerick was made undrinkable one would think that the spillage is sunstantial.

I know that Kildimo, Pallaskenry, Askeaton, Shangolden, and Foynes all have water warnings with the county council switching off water supplies due to contamination. If a person gets a map out and draws lines between Foynes, Kildomo and Rathkeale then an idea of how many other rivers, streams etc that could get affected can be got, and when the estuary itself gets factored in, then the scope for major damage becomes a reality, and so far oil has been seen where the Deel enters the Estuary at Askeaton.


The last I heard is that crews are still trying to stop the leak and it is still spewing out oil.

Really terrible news for the West Limerick region, and potentially terrible news for a much larger area.

blackbelt

I wonder how the resident Shannon Estuary dolphins will be affected?

Kess73

blackbelt wrote: »

I wonder how the resident Shannon Estuary dolphins will be affected?

Well if one looks at where the Deel enters the Shannon estaury and then looks at how close Tarbert is, then you can see how close the dolphin are to it. Plus there is whatever oil carries out the estuary to contend with.:(

bob charles

Birdnuts wrote: »

Saw this on the news - those responsible I hope are hit with heavy fines and cover the full coast of the clean up and restocking. No excuse for such slopiness in this day and age:mad:

accidents happen unfortunately, has anyone ever had a burst water pipe in your house? unfortunately the same can happen with fuel pipes, holding equipment etc. The compensation is going to be big as it has caused major problems for industry in the region that source water from the river Deel. Hope the problem is rectified Asap

Birdnuts

bob charles wrote: »

accidents happen unfortunately, has anyone ever had a burst water pipe in your house? unfortunately the same can happen with fuel pipes, holding equipment etc. The compensation is going to be big as it has caused major problems for industry in the region that source water from the river Deel. Hope the problem is rectified Asap

I have, but if your storing a large amount of a potentialy serious pollutant on site next to a river/drinking source then extra precautions/vilgilence is necessary - Do you know if the storage tanks were kept inside a protective bund?? - We have alot of quarries around here in which heavy machinery operate - all the fuel tanks have a protective concrete bund around them in case of leaks. It appears in this case that any safety mechanisms on site failed badly to the extent that it took the emergency team dealing with the incident a long time to stem the leak.