By Sean ORiordan

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Bathing water at contaminated beaches in Cork had nearly four times the permitted EU level of the E.coli bacteria, which if ingested can cause severe vomiting, diarrhoea, and in some cases even death.

The highest reading for the bacteria, which is normally found in excrement, was at Youghals Front Strand.

Its not safe to bathe where the level of faecal coliforms, such as E.coli, exceed 2,000 in 100ml of water. At the Front Strand a reading taken on Aug 14 was 7,701.

The strand, along with the towns Claycastle beach, lost its Blue Flag status for high-quality bathing water last year.

The faecal coliform reading at Claycastle was 3,964, while Youghals only remaining Blue Flag beach at Redbarn had a reading of 2,481.

The second highest reading of 6,488 was recorded at Coolmaine beach, near Kilbrittain. At 4,106, the Blue Flag beach at Garryvoe had a reading more than double the EU limit, while Garretstown, also a Blue Flag beach, registered 2,909.

No reading was available for Oysterhaven, which was also closed by Cork County Council officials last Friday due to a breach of E.coli levels.

Under EU legislation which came into effect last year, council officials are obliged to put up warning signs at the beaches, while lifeguards operating there told the public it was not safe to swim.

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Beaches in breach