The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
WATER abstraction from the Lower Shannon at the Parteen Basin has been identified as the “emerging preferred option” to supply a new source of water for the Eastern and Midlands regions. Details of the emerging preferred option are to be be unveiled this Thursday by Irish Water. However, The Clare Champion can reveal that a report published by Irish Water has found the abstraction of water at Parteen Basin has the least environmental impact of the four options considered. It can avail of existing hydro-power infrastructure which ensures the proposed water abstraction can be implemented within existing normal operating water levels and with no impact on statutory flow requirements in the Lower Shannon, meaning there is limited impact on the lake. Abstraction from hydropower facilities is common practice worldwide and the Parteen Basin option will use a small fraction, about 2%, of hydropower water, which would otherwise have been used for power generation and then discharged to sea. Irish Water …
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