Thanks but no thanks – village residents say no to water scheme

CLARE County Council has spent millions of euro on the extension of a water scheme to a North Clare village, only to find that residents in the area are more than content with their existing supply. Clare County Council has invested millions of euros in extending the Lickeen Lake water supply, which currently serves Lisdoonvarna, as far as Ballyvaughan.

However, a delegation from a sub-committee of the Ballyvaughan Development Association attended the most recent North Clare Electoral Area meeting to ask the local authority not to make the Lickeen Lake scheme the village’s primary supply.
The delegation outlined the reasons and the research behind the group’s desire to maintain the village’s Newtown scheme, which serves the majority of premises in the village, as the area’s primary supply.
“People felt helpless and uneasy that they were going to lose their own indigenous water supply,” Cecilia Agnew, a member of the delegation, stated.
While Ms Agnew acknowledged that there is a risk factor for e-coli in the existing scheme, she also pointed out that the Newtown supply was superb when it came to mineral content. She added that while the THMS, trihalomethanes, were within allowed levels in the Lickeen supply, the group would prefer not to have any.
Ms Agnew pointed out that businesses in the Burren were trying to market the area and attract people to the region. Being able to source food and drink, including water, locally was an advantage when it came to this, she added.
“The Burren is a unique place. We see ourselves as the capital of the Burren. We need to work with each other to better the tourist package,” Ms Agnew continued.
Ms Agnew stated that she understood that the council planned to use the Lickeen Lake supply as the primary water supply in the area, while keeping the Newtown supply as a back-up. She asked if a valve was going to be used to turn on the Newtown scheme in the case of any failure of the proposed primary supply from Lickeen Lake. She added that if this was the case then the reverse should be possible and the Newtown scheme could be kept as the primary scheme, backed up by the Lickeen supply.
Councillor Martin Conway stated that he believed the group were speaking for the majority of Ballyvaughan residents and that “it is a very fair request that their supply should be the primary one given the facts and the quality of the water”.
Having its own water scheme “would give Ballyvaughan a unique selling point”, Councillor Conway claimed.
“I see Ballyvaughan water as an asset when it comes to Burren branding and that clean, green image,” added Councillor Joe Arkins.
The Ruan councillor went on to ask David Timlin, director of services, environment and water services, to prepare a report on using the Ballyvaughan Water Supply as the primary source with Lickeen Lake as the back-up.
Mr Timlin stated that the Ballyvaughan source was prone to pollution “ironically because it is in the Burren” and that the council proposed to keep the Newtown source, adding that there is no future for the Acres scheme, which serves a small number of homes in the area.
“We have to be mindful of the investment that would be required in the Ballyvaughan supply,” Mr Timlin stated. He said that it would require additional treatment and this would have been put in “years ago if the other [Lickeen Lake] scheme wasn’t going ahead”.
Mr Timlin said he would supply a report to councillors including the cost of using the Newtown scheme as the primary Ballyvaughan water supply before the next area meeting.
Councillor Michael Kelly was perplexed as to how public money was spent on the extension of a water supply that locals did not want.
“Where did we go wrong that we didn’t identify this originally?” he asked.
“There is a financial factor but if this can be accommodated, it would sound like a good proposal for Ballyvaughan to have its own supply.” “Somewhere someone went wrong,” Councillor Kelly concluded.
Councillor Richard Nagle expressed his disappointment that such a meeting with residents could not have happened before work began on extending the Lickeen Lake water supply.
“It is a shame we didn’t have this meeting about four years ago because we could have saved ourselves millions of euro,” he stated. But Ré Ó Laighleis, a member of the delegation, pointed out that the group had tried to meet with the relevant council officials in the past but were unable to gain access to the appropriate person. He said that the group was offering the knowledge shared with the meeting more than two years ago.
The council is to prepare a report on the cost of using the Ballyvaughan Water Supply as the primary source with Lickeen Lake as the back-up.