Galway Bay fm newsroom - Three popular Galway bathing locations have been deemed as 'littered' in a new coastal litter survey.
Irish Business Against Litter's latest study has given Salthill Beach, Dog's Bay in Connemara and Loughrea Lake the second lowest designation for cleanliness.
IBAL's latest nationwide litter survey of beaches, harbours and waterways shows Salthill, which was previously deemed as clean is now littered, alongside Dog Bay’s and Loughrea Lake.
Popular bathing locations around the country and their immediate environs were monitored by the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce during June and July.
The An Taisce report for Salthill stated there was 'overflowing litter bins and substantial fast-food and food related litter on top of and at the base of street bins'.
In reference to Dog's Bay, the report found that much of the litter along the beach was marine related - including rope, twine and polystyrene - and the toe of the dunes contained the remains of a fence and a substantial wire entanglement embedded in the sand which posed a health risk.
Meanwhile, Loughrea Lake was marked down because there were heavy levels of a wide variety of food related litter and cigarette butts in the car park.
The report found that 40% of the 32 coastal areas surveyed nationwide were clean, but there was a rise in areas branded littered or heavily littered.
