Report a water pollution incident or make a complaint

If you wish to report an incident or make a water pollution complaint, please contact the Water Pollution Control section (contact details should appear here). Alternatively, please use the "I Want to" page to report an incident/complaint electronically. Outside of office hours, please use Dublin City Council's emergency/out of hours number.

In order to respond to a pollution incident, it is important that the Water Pollution Control Section is notified quickly (see below). As water bodies are dynamic in nature, and many pollutants are discharged instantaneously (e.g. a drum of waste oil dumped into a road gulley, a spillage from an industrial site), it is often not possible to identify the source of pollution if there is a delay in reporting it. We urge members of the public to report observed water pollution as soon as possible.

Please include as much information as possible when reporting an incident or making a complaint to ensure that the issue can be resolved in a timely manner.

In the event of an incident/event which threatens the quality of any water, appropriate action shall be taken by the section in accordance with the Water Pollution Act 1977, as amended.

Water Pollution Control Section

The Water Pollution Control Section is responsible for the protection of waters within Dublin City Council's administrative area. 'Waters' includes rivers, streams, ponds, groundwater, estuarine, tidal and bathing waters. European and National legislation is implemented to ensure the protection of such waters.

In carrying out our functions, we coordinate and liaise with our counterparts in neighbouring local authorities. The Royal and Grand Canals, including the Grand Canal Basin, are the responsibility of Waterways Ireland.

The Section's functions include, but are not limited to, the following;

• Licensing of discharges to waters or surface water sewer
• Misconnection Investigations
• Surface water monitoring
• Bathing water monitoring
• Notification of prohibitions on bathing waters
• Pollution incident investigations
• Implementation of measures under Water Framework Directive - we work closely with the Water Framework Directive Office to develop and implement programmes of measures with the objective of achieving or maintaining good status in all of Dublin City Council's water bodies.
• Development of Coastal Oil and Hazardous and Noxious Substances(HNS) Contingency Plan - Dublin City Council has submitted a Coastal Oil & HNS Spill Contingency Plan to the Irish Coastguard for approval. This plan sets out how Dublin City Council will deal with major coastal Oil Spills within its functional area. To comply with the plan the City Council carries out regular exercises on boom deployment.

Pressures on our waters

There are various pressures threatening the quality of our waters including;

• Urban Runoff
• Inappropriate discharges to road gullies (e.g. disposal of waste engine oil, washing paint brushes and other DIY equipment into the road gulley, etc.)
• Foul Network Drainage (e.g. discharges from combined sewer overflows)
• Misconnections (where appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers, sinks, baths, showers and toilets, are plumbed to the rainwater drains).
• Construction Activities
• Illegal Dumping

These pressures can directly affect the health, amenity and biodiversity of a surface water if not managed correctly. Read more on pressures and what you can do to help here.