It was an eye-opener again to see the level of rubbish that we pulled from the Castletown water-way beside the Avenue as volunteers with the Celbridge River Catchment Trust. The rubbish included among cans, plastic containers, bottles, hundreds of bags of dog-poo. This water flows into our drink water source – the Liffey.

According to the Environment Protection Agency (US) dog poo contains two main types of pollutants that harm local waters: nutrients and pathogens. Pathogens are disease causing bacteria and viruses, that are public health hazards. A single gram of dog waste can contain 23 million fecal coliform bacteria. A plastic bag will not prevent seepage of the poo into the water, it only adds to the threats for wild-life.

Please raise awareness about keeping our water-ways clean. If there is a need for more bins, or if you have other ideas on how to keep our water-ways free of rubbish please get in touch. There are also many volunteers and groups in Celbridge and surrounding areas to connect in with on this for a cleaner and healthier environment.