Litter Louts
14 Mar 2000A CENTURY ago according to James Joyce, the Poddle was pouring a “tongue of sewage” into the Liffey estuary. Nowadays one does not have to go that far downriver to find appalling pollution. Most of once-sweet Anna Livia is polluted. So are 70pc of the historic Boyne and 32pc of the glorious Suir. Most of the household effluent discharged untreated into the three rivers goes into the estuaries, but upstream the quality of the water extracted for drinking does not meet adequate standards.
Meanwhile, visitors to our capital city see signs in English, French and Italian reading “Welcome to Dublin — excuse the litter.” The signs are the bright idea of the Irish Business Against Litter Campaign. If water pollution can and does harm human health, litter can and does harm tourism.
The culprits? The usual suspects. For the filth of our cities and towns, extending into the countryside, individuals. For the filth of our waters, partly individuals again, but public authorities, industry and agriculture are more blameworthy. And the remedy? Householders, farmers and industry, says the Environment Department, can take responsibility for the pollution they generate. The same department’ sees “a huge improvement in local authority action on Utter”, especially in Dublin: a remarkable feat of eyesight and imagination. The only answer is stringent law enforcement.
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