Investigations are underway into what has caused an E-coli contamination of the water at Tramore Pier.
The Council says high levels of E-coli have been detected there and people are being advised not to use the popular swimming spot.
However, Tramore beach, Newtown and Guillamene Coves are not affected.
Pat McCarthy is Senior Engineer for Water Services in the local authority.
He says they're working to find the cause of the problem at the pier:
"The levels of bacteria and E-coli are such that it's unsafe for bathing. We will carry out further analysis of the bathing water and we will remove those signs when the bacteria count improves.
"Also, we will look at what are the risks for the receiving waters and see if we can identify the cause. If we can identify the cause then we'll carry out further works to make sure this doesn't happen again. If we can."
Mr McCarthy says at this moment, it is difficult to predict how long it will take to resolve the issue:
"Well, normally with these sort of things you can have changes in water quality with tide levels. We haven't identified an obvious impact on the negative water quality that we're seeing, so it can change dramatically as the tide goes out and comes back in again.
"We'll keep the situation monitored over the weekend... but it's not an easy fix if it is, let's say, from the catchment upstream."
There is a waste-water treatment plant in the vicinity but a statement from Irish Water says that there have been no issues reported there:
"Irish Water has not been notified of any issues with public wastewater infrastructure in the area in recent weeks.
Local Authorities are responsible for managing and monitoring bathing waters. The Local Authority collects information on bathing water quality on a regular basis and, in consultation with the HSE provides information and guidance to the public on using bathing waters."
Pat McCarthy is also ruling out any possibility of the plant being to blame:
"There has been, on occasion, reports of pollution in that area. In the immediate vicinity, there is a pump station and we have carried out, in conjunction with Irish Water, improvements on that.
"If there was an overflow from that pump station, the locals would be advised by a flashing light. This hasn't happened in some time so we're happy that the pump station is not the driver of the negative water quality at the moment.
"We're looking at other causes."
Meanwhile, Tramore councillor, Lola O'Sullivan has called for urgent action to be taken to fix the problem:
"The pier is hugely popular for swimming and this will come as a huge blow to many of the users there. I'm now calling on Waterford Council to rectify this.
"... I'm a councillor 22 years and this is an ongoing problem in the pier. Over those 22 years many, many councillors have raised the issue of the pier and I think, once and for all, the council needs to make this a safe place for bathers, for boat users, for everybody."
