Kevin Lynch, from Co. Meath, was angry about it all and thought the river should have been closed. "I was out in the river, in the middle of it, and when I saw this stuff in the water I just could not believe it," he said.
His brother, Michael, from Co. Louth, said all their angling gear was ruined. “Everything is destroyed.” he said.
“There was sewage everywhere, paper and solids and the water was all discoloured,” he added.
The Bachelor's Walk side of the river was discoloured and grossly polluted with raw sewage and sewage debris.
The situation was made much worse by the fact the solids got caught in weeds and remained in the area.
Declan Cooke, Manager of the Moy Fishery, said they were very concerned about something like this happening, particularly at the peak of the angling season. “It is not the first time it has happened, though not as serious as this.
“We have a long history of correspondence with the local authority about this particular problem,” he said.
He had spoken with engineers from Mayo County Council who told him the sewage spill occurred because there was a combined foul water and storm water sewerage system in Ballina and when there was unusually heavy rain in a short period a pump cut in to pump the overflow from the pumping station.
This sewage went into the river and it was a situation that was very serious in this day and age in a town like Ballina that relies so heavily on angling tourism and when they were promoting the river and the system as pristine.
Mr Cooke said the situation was serious and potentially disastrous. If enough sewage got into the river at a time when water levels were very low thousands of fish could be killed.
He pointed out that it was similar circumstances that led to a fish kill in the Tubbercurry area some time ago.
A spokesman for Ballina Town Council said the problem related to the fact Ballina had a combined foul and storm water sewerage system.
“When you get intense rain the system overflows and that is the way it is designed to operate,” he said.
He added that under the next phase of the Ballina Main Drainage Scheme, which they hoped would start before the end of the year, there would be a certain amount of separation of the foul and storm waters and this would relieve a lot of pressure on the system.
As well, the Bachelor's Walk pumping station would be upgraded as part of this scheme and this, too, would improve the situation.