Flooding in 1995 may have caused increase in E. coli levels, says IFA

Flooding in south Galway in 1995 may have caused a rapid increase in E. coli levels in groundwater, according to the Irish Farmer's Association, which has called for the immediate publication of the Government's consultancy study on the flooding issue.

Scientific information suggested that E. coli levels became a serious health risk, Mr Michael Kelly, the IFA's south Galway chairman, said. He called on the Office of Public Works to publish the consultancy study immediately.

The eight-volume consultants' report was commissioned after the flooding, and is intended to consider remedial measures. Farmers were recently told by the Minister of State for Arts, Heritage, the Gaeltacht and the Islands, Mr Eamon O Cuiv, that the study would be published in March and would be accompanied by an explanatory public meeting.

"We were promised this report last August, then last October, and now we have another delay," Mr Kelly said. "Two weeks ago during heavy rain we were close to disaster again but the water subsided. So the Government doesn't feel under enough pressure to act," he said.

Mr Kelly said farmers did not want south Galway to be turned into a "Sahara" as a result. "We want to alleviate the problem, but to work within an acceptable level of water," Mr Kelly said. "We don't want whole tracts of land drained." In any case, many of the affected areas were now subject to designation as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) - another contentious issue, he added.

Mr Kelly warned there was no point in publishing the study if there was no cost benefit analysis, and if there was a delay in implementing its recommendations. While some homes had been relocated after the flooding, others were on hold pending the report's publication. Farmland had been considerably damaged, he said.

There was also concern over E. coli levels, and the general state of groundwater supplies, he said.