Madam, – Sadly we have come to the end of an era in our household. The water pump that draws our domestic water from Annaghkeen Bay in Lough Corrib has succumbed to the dreaded zebra mussel. The foot valve is infested with mussels; they have colonised the pipes and infiltrated the pressure pump.
I can remember the coming of the rural electrification scheme to this townland in the mid-1950s and the excitement of having running water for the first time. On the subject of electrification, Seán Lemass announced to the Senate in 1945: “I hope to see the day that when a girl gets a proposal from a farmer she will inquire not so much about the number of cows but rather concerning the electrical appliances she will require before she gives her consent including not merely electric light but a water heater, an electric clothes boiler, a vacuum cleaner and even a refrigerator.”
In March 2006, I attended a conference in a Claregalway entitled Zebra Mussels and other Alien Invaders. Dr Doug Jensen of the University of Minnesota spoke about the initiatives that were adopted in the US to combat the scourge of these mussels. The Irish Government might have acted to ban boat movement from infected waters (eg Shannon-Erne Waterway) to the Western Lakes (unless the boats were certified as steam-cleaned and out-of-water for a specified period). Instead, notices about zebra mussels were erected at slipways and launching areas. What a joke! The mayfly season came and so did the anglers – in their hundreds. At the slipway at Annaghkeen there were cars with registrations from counties Clare, Longford, Roscommon, Cavan, Limerick, Leitrim – all launching boats and engines into the Corrib. And exactly the same occurred in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
It is not my intention to diminish the Trojan work done by the various local agencies and fishing clubs, but there is a segment of the angling fraternity that display total disregard of the dangers presented to Lough Corrib from the zebra mussels. These mussels can be transported on ropes, on landing nets, on the boots of fishermen, and even by people walking along the shore. It is much more advisable to hire boats locally.
When anglers personally experience the impact of the mussels on their wallets, will they begin to take stock? The discovery that the lower unit of their outboard engine is encrusted with zebra mussels will make them annoyed. But when the fellow who services their engine tells them the water intakes, and inside the housing as far as the pump impeller is similarly encrusted, they are going to be rather unhappy.
Zebra mussels have already caused problems to water treatment facilities on the River Shannon. Pipes have been obstructed, water for human consumption tainted by the mussels, and the waste left in their wake. Public and group water schemes operating on the Corrib may be similarly affected within a very short period. Sixty years is a short lifetime to see the water come bubbling and sparkling out of brand new tap, and then to be an eye witness to the irreversible changes of a lake’s ecology. We really have come to the end of an era. Ní gá ach sracfhéachaint a thógáil chun an fhírinne a fhéiceail.