Fears of devastation for East Clare if abstraction approved

FEARS have been expressed the proposed water abstraction of more than 330 million litres of water from Lough Derg to Dublin could result in devastating impact for tourism-related business in East Clare.

Speaking at a recent council briefing by Irish Water officials, Councillor Tony O’Brien asked if the proposed water abstraction project is a “done deal” or is it still in abeyance.

Describing the River Shannon as the greatest natural resource in East Clare, he warned if Irish Water’s projections and forecasts are wrong, then the impact will be devastating and could “close the place down”.

Commenting on the drought situation in Lough Derg in 2018, he said harbours and inlets couldn’t be accessed for tourism purposes for boat hire.

“I dread to think if water abstraction was in place that time what the consequences would be. I am hugely concerned and so are my constituents.

“Nothing will convince me that abstracting water from the River Shannon south of Killaloe flowing all the way up the Midlands to Dublin – where you have a huge leakage problem with the amount of money you are putting into it – is not a huge mistake and could result in devastation for East Clare.”

Councillor Pat Burke said he was prepared to march across the bridge in Killaloe next summer with the new council chairman, Councillor O’Brien, to demonstrate his total opposition against the proposed water abstraction from Lough Derg.

“What happens in a drought situation if water tanks are dry in Dublin? It is madness to take so much water from a natural supply. We are all hearing about climate change and drier summer.”

Councillor Pat Hayes acknowledged it was a “struggle” to get Irish Water to attend a public meeting, which was the best way of facilitating an exchange of view between Irish Water officials and public representatives in the presence of the media.

He hoped Irish Water would return to another public meeting to hear councillors’ concerns about the lack of adequate waste water treatment facilities in towns and villages throughout Clare.

Irish Water Water Resources Specialist, Angela Ryan stated the water abstraction project was not a done deal as every piece of strategic development has to go through a statutory consent process.

She explained there is a bit of a delay in proceeding through the statutory process as the government must introduce a new piece of abstraction legislation following a European Court of
Justice ruling against Ireland due to the lack of modern abstraction laws.

When this new legislation is introduced, she explained the water abstraction project must comply with the Wastewater Framework Directive.

She said the aim of their four regional plans is to provide greater interconnectivity between all their water supplies to ensure that everyone gets the same level of service regardless of where they live in the country.

Commenting on foreign direct investment, she said the benefits of having an interconnected supply is the IDA can tell new investors they can locate anywhere in the country.

Irish Water is one of the largest water abstractors taking more than 1,100 abstractions from groundwater and surface water sources.

With Irish Water required to apply for a licence for existing water abstractions sites, she outlined these applications will be open to public scrutiny.

She admitted that Irish Water may struggle to licence up to 40% of existing sites because they are taking water from rivers and lakes that are too small to support these abstractions.

When Irish Water is looking water options for a particular area, she explained, they adopt a blank sheet approach assessing all proposals using the expertise of hydrologists, hydrogeologists, environmental scientists and ecologists.

“The first piece of our plan is to set up things in an environmental footing. If we don’t think an option is environmentally sustainable, it doesn’t make the list.”

Commenting on leakage reduction, she said Irish Water has increased its overall spending from €100 million annually to €120 million last year in this new plan and hope to get this up to €150 million and have made a submission to the National Development Plan to increase this to €200 million annually.

Irish Water recognised it has to do more to reduce leakage over time as it is too high compared with European norms.

Stating Irish Water was a relatively new national utility that is in place now for seven years, she acknowledged it could do more to improve interaction with public representatives.

“By publishing a 25-year water plan and talking about our plans for our water supplies, I think that is the first step in terms of transparency and it providing more public information.”

She said the preferred water abstraction project is one aspect of their overall plan including 34 water resource zones in the Midlands region and Shannon catchment.

She outlined the plan considers the environmental impact of water abstraction to ensure there is no additional environmental issues.

Commenting on the impact of water abstraction near the old River Shannon, she said that it is proposed the ESB would reduce the amount of water it is taking out from the Head Race for

Ardnacrusha to allow Irish Water to use this water so no additional water is taken out of the river.

She said there is a statutory requirement to release 10 cubic metres per second down the Old River Shannon by the ESB throughout the year.

Ms Ryan said studies are ongoing in terms of understanding the environmental baseline of Lough Derg and Parteen Basin to ensure there is no issues with the abstraction, which also has to be assessed by the EPA through a licensing regime.

She said Irish Water implements government policy in its plan and doesn’t set growth targets in any area.

It also factors in an allowance for additional growth in an area, which would require a greater water supply.

For the Eastern and Midlands Water Supply, she outlined Irish Water looked at 2,000 options for the whole area, which were examined by a team of hydrologists, hydrogeologists and environmental scientists before they were assessed by engineers.

Citing the 25,000 population figure for Ennis, she said the plan facilitates a population increase of 7,000.

Councillor Gerry Flynn said the least Irish Water could do was to address councillors at a public meeting instead of conducting meetings behind closed doors.

He noted more than 60% of Clare is in the new Eastern and Midlands Region while the remainder is included in the North West Region.

Councillor P J Kelly asked if Irish Water looked at sourcing water from springs near Dublin, which would be more sustainable than taking it from Lough Derg.

He pointed out one spring was provided drinking water for about 1,300 houses in Lissycasey.