Broadmeadow River Water Quality Project 1998
The location of the town of Ashbourne to the north of Dublin.
The catchment map of the Broadmeadow River (BRO). It connects the Boyne valley to the left to the sea at Malahide, at the Broadmeadow Estuary near Swords. A number of large urban sites are on or near the river. The main channel is colored light blue, but there are at least two secondary channels and many land drains entering the river near Swords.
The Broadmeadow is a typical post-glacial river. Neolithic through to medieval remains are extant. Trout and Salmon were recorded till 1900. In the 1990s, it was claimed to be the second most polluted river in Ireland!
The stimulus for this project was originally the issue of local children bathing in the river on hot summer days, however, due to rapid urbanization in the early 1990s (and later), the sewage treatment plant was woefully inadequate and untreated discharges during heavy rain were not uncommon. At the station selected, it was a matter of local comment that tomato plants grew well on the banks of the river!
The location of the main station on the Broadmeadow River, Co. Meath at the turning circle at Deerpark.
The pedestrian bridge at Deerpark, Ashbourne, Co. Meath
A typical view of the river with vegetation consisting of Gorse, Bramble, Willow.
Looking from Deerpark pedestrian bridge towards the post-medieval bridge.
A view downstream from the main station to the post-medieval bridge at Deerpark
Processing samples
- Graduated Cylinders
- Water Sample - brown bottle
- Graduated Syringes with tubing - phenosafranine method of dissolved oxygen determination
- Ultraviolet light (Detecting E. coli) on fluorescent agar
- Rubber Gloves
- Sperber net
- Retort stand, Boss and Clamp with burette and white tile
- Agars and broth
- Microbiological & Identification books
- Water with biological samples from Sperber net
- Rubber gloves
- not shown - Beckman UV-Vis spectrophotometer, phosphate standard solutions, cuvettes
Results - 1998
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