The Big River in Tralee

So a very good friend of mine recently contacted me about what he felt was an asset within his home area. Tony O Brien is from the housing estate in Tralee called Shanakil. He follows my page online and I have known Tony for a number years. He was concerned about the river and dyke that runs adjacent and through his own estate. Most of the older generation of people around Tralee would know the Big River. I would say the younger generation do not know the name of the river but they know the river, where it is and maybe even done a bit of drinking and gallivanting alongside it. For some it might be insignificant but for me no stream, river, dyke, loch or sea is insignificant. The cold hard reality is that if you want to see how a person, community or nation treat their environment look at their watercourses. The big river is in the same catchment as the river lee which runs into Tralee bay at Blennerville. Both rivers are very important to our town and our overall environment as a whole. It is not a lie to say that both the Big river, river Lee and Tralee bay are actual rubbish black spots. 

Above is a video taken a few years ago while I was out jogging along the path from Blennerville to Tralee. Most people are aware of the canal walk and how wonderful it is but if you walk the path on the other side of the road you will see the actual truth of the way we as a community have treated Tralee Bay SAC. A few years back I was going to get involved in a project headed up by catchments Ireland. We wanted to get the community together and organise a big clean up but I personally didn't want to get involved when certain aspects were a no go area. First of all the dump which is still there needs to be looked at as it is now actually seeping from the banks as the erosion from the incoming tide has taken away the reinforcement banks. This is an issue that no state funded organisation wants to admit or take ownership of. So back to the big river, it was diverted many years ago and goes underground at Dunnes Stores in north circular road. The big river then joins the river Lee near the Aqua Dome and here it flows into Tralee bay. Now for the sad news, it could be said that just maybe our records here in Tralee for water quality could be up there with some of the worst in the country. On more than one occasion both the Lee and Big river have been polluted in board daylight and nothing was ever done about it. 

Pollution, The Big River, May 2020

Above is a video taken by myself around Christmas time of 2019, nobody was ever prosecuted or even charged. The reality is both rivers have still very good fish life, Eels, Brown Trout, Sea Trout and even Salmon run both the Big River and the Lee. I think its time the community get involved and do something about the health of our rivers. Now is the time when climate change and the environment are such hot topics there is funding there for projects etc. I am gonna write blogs that I find interesting and hopefully other people would like to get involved. Its up to us really, nobody but the local people can get things done and I believe we need to educate the local people about how great our local rivers are. They need our help, we live in a world now were we are concerned only on global matters but the truth is the world will sort itself out if you sort out our own environment locally. I want to thank Tony for sending in the videos and even bringing the big river to my attention, that is all it takes is a spark of inspiration where you say to yourself that is not right, what can we do. 

Stay tuned!