River Brosna

Infobox River | river_name = River Brosna


caption = River Brosna at Swim-Two-Birds
origin = Near Mullingar, County Westmeath
mouth = Shannon at Shannon Harbour

The River Brosna ( _ga. An Bhrosnach) is a river in Ireland, flowing through County Westmeath and County Offaly.

The river rises in Lough Owel north of Mullingar [http://www.askaboutireland.ie/show_narrative_page.do?page_id=3907.] and is a tributary of the River Shannon. It meets the Shannon at Shannon Harbour.

Course

The Brosna begins as a small river, flowing from Lough Owel in a south-south-westerly direction through Mullingar, into Lough Ennell. From Lough Ennell, the river Brosna flows into Kilbeggan, where it still powers the mill at Kilbeggan Distillery. The Brosna continues flowing southwest through Clara. East of Ferbane it is joined by the Silver River. From Ferbane it heads to Shannon Harbour, north of Banagher, where it joins the Shannon.

Fishing

The river Brosna is popular for fly fishing and has stocks of brown trout as well as some salmon and grilse. [http://www.shannon-fishery-board.ie/guides/game/river-brosna.htm.] 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. There have also been discharges of pollutants, whether accidental or otherwise, such as this shocking scene filmed at the bridge of Clonmore industrial estate in Mullingar.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlAevt0fzqg [”Over 50% of Brosna Polluted”, Westmeath Examiner, July 21st, 2001.]

Drainage

Works, to the cost of IR £750,000, [http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0128/D.0128.195112040062.html.] 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, leaving the river with the high banks distinctive of many of the rivers in the Irish midlands that received this treatment. [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.]

References