River Brosna
The River Brosna is a river in Ireland, flowing through the Counties of Westmeath and Offaly.
The river rises to the north of Mullingar, fed by the waters of Lough Owel [1] and is a tributary of the River Shannon. It meets the Shannon at Shannon Harbour.
The Brosna flows in a south-westerly direction through the towns of Mullingar, Kilbeggan, Clara and Ferbane, as well as Lough Ennell. The river is popular for fly fishing and has stocks of brown trout as well as some salmon and grilse.[2] However it has, in recent years, suffered somewhat from pollution problems due to its poor assimilative capacity and the discharge of untreated sewage in the Mullingar area during storm conditions.[3]
Works, to the cost of IR£750,000,[4] were undertaken on the river in the late 1940s and early 1950s to improve drainage in the river’s catchment area. As part of the Arterial Drainage Scheme, designed to tackle poor drainage caused by Ireland’s relatively low lying topography, the river was deepened and widened. This has left the river with rather high banks in many places.[5]
References
- ^ http://www.askaboutireland.ie/show_narrative_page.do?page_id=3907.
- ^ http://www.shannon-fishery-board.ie/guides/game/river-brosna.htm
- ^ ”Over 50% of Brosna Polluted”, Westmeath Examiner, July 21st, 2001.
- ^ http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0128/D.0128.195112040062.html
- ^ An investigation of the effects of an arterial drainage scheme on the rainfall-runoff transformation behaviour of the Brosna catchment in Ireland, Bhattarai, K. P., O'Connor, K. M., EGS - AGU - EUG Joint Assembly, Abstracts from the meeting held in Nice, France, 6 - 11 April 2003, abstract #12112.