The award of a gold medal in the European Entente Florale competition earlier this month to Stradbally in Co Waterford surprised members of the local Tourism and Enterprise Group because of their growing concern over sewage pollution at the village's main bathing area.
Stradbally Cove, renowned as a safe family beach because of its shallow tide levels, attracts thousands of visitors annually from all over the south-east.
However, at the height of the summer bathing season early last month, concerns were expressed locally when Waterford County Council placed a notice at the point where the River Tay enters the cove, warning the public not to swim there.
A new warning sign has gone up in the last couple of days, stating: "Do not bathe, paddle or wash utensils in the stream."
The Entente Florale is a prestigious international competition attracting entrants from 11 European countries. Its aim is to encourage the development of an improved environment for urban dwellers "through respect for nature". The standard of entry is high, according to the Department of the Environment.
This is the first year since the competition began that both Irish entrants - Stradbally and Ennis, Co Clare, each with silver medals from this year's Tidy Towns competition - reached gold-medal status, for which points between 85 per cent and 100 per cent are scored.
The rules of the Entente Florale - which is run by the Brussels-based company AEFP - as well as assessing entrants on the level of "enhancement though flowers, shrubs, trees, green spaces and parks" specify development which is "environmentally and ecologically sensitive".
While the Stradbally Tourism and Enterprise Group is "pro-development", according to its chairman, Mr Tom Hickey, it has serious concerns about additional housing developments in the area being given planning permission before a suitable waste-treatment plant has been installed.
Stradbally was a small village containing no more than about 75 houses until two or three years ago, when some 50 acres of land were rezoned for housing development.
Mr Hickey said that samples had been taken from the water over a period of 11 weeks since the beginning of the summer because of concerns about inadequate infrastructure and excessive loads of raw sewage being carried through an outflow pipe and discharged into the River Tay at the cove above high-tide level.
It was decided to send the samples to an independent laboratory when the county council said that it would have to charge for carrying out the tests, he added.
Results showed that five of the weekly tests had breached or were at the maximum EU allowable safety limits for faecal coliforms and faecal e.coli for both the bathing areas of the sea and river.
Samples from further up the river, above the county council's sewage discharge pipe, also gave rise to concern. "We had not realised that the water upstream from the sewage pipe was equally bad," Mr Hickey said.
The test results were sent to the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, and to the county manager, Mr Donal Connolly, the South-Eastern Health Board's senior environmental health officer, Mr Laurence O'Connor, and a local GP, Dr Seán McElduff.
Early in July, the health board carried out its own tests, and the warning signs were erected a few weeks later.
Mr John O'Sullivan, senior executive engineer in the county council's sanitary department, said yesterday that the notices had been erected as a precautionary measure on the advice of the health board.
Mr O'Sullivan emphasised that conditions in Stradbally were not that much different from other towns in Co Waterford. A preliminary report on the provision of proper sewage facilities for Stradbally and a number of other growth areas in the county was being finalised at present for the period up to 2005 prior to submission to the Department of the Environment for assessment.
Mr Laurence O'Connor, the health board's senior environmental officer, said that the situation was being monitored on an ongoing basis. He confirmed that high levels of bacteria "beyond natural background levels" had been detected and pointed out that a number of bathing areas, including Stradbally, had lost their Blue Flag status in recent years.
"Our brief is to eliminate the risk to public health," Mr O'Connor said. That was why the warning notices had been put up.
He hoped that the problem would be a temporary one and that proper treatment facilities would be sanctioned soon by the Department of the Environment for Stradbally and the other centres identified in the county council's report.