It might look like Chardonnay, but the occasional colour of Lisdoonvarna tap water is at odds with the resort's traditional reputation for health-inducing waters.
Following a campaign by local residents and pressure on the Government by Clare County Council, a new water system is now being installed. It is due to be operational this summer. The problem was the demands being placed on the old reservoir at peak times, which led to water shortages.
One local resident said: "It caused huge problems for people trying to run B&Bs. It looks more like wine than water when you pour a jug of it."
Mr Hugh McKiernan, a senior engineer in the sanitary services division of the county council, traces problems associated with water quality and quantity to the summertime explosion in population, from 94,000 residents to 250,000.
The number of people "who want to look over the Cliffs of Moher" has been increasing steadily, he said. "It puts all the resources under pressure. They have been geared to cater for a rural culture and a rural community and they are no longer capable of doing it in parts of the county."
About 34 km of pipework has been laid in the Burren for the new water supply which, as Mr McKiernan comments, will give the lie after 350 years to Ludlow, the Cromwellian general, who said of the region that there was not enough water to drown a man.
Tackling such problems amounts to a complex infra structural project. The reservoir has to be large enough to serve the fluctuating population. So do the pipes connecting it to the treatment plant, which must be able to handle the volumes. The distribution network has to reach the required standard.
Those facts were presented to the Government on a number of occasions, says Mr McKiernan, before the council got permission to proceed with the £12 million project.
It will serve Ennistymon, Liscannor, Lahinch, Kilfenora and Doolin, and it is hoped it will be connected to Ballyvaughan as well.
Ballyvaughan, with a 128-year-old scheme provided by Baron Annesley, has water quantity problems. Of a dozen holes bored for new wells only two were not polluted with saline intrusions, Mr McKiernan said. Planning policy also tries to keep the problem in check. The "linear village" development of Fanore in the north-west tip of Clare creates huge pipework demands, out of proportion to the number of residents who benefit from the supply.
But planning permission now requires that a water meter be installed in new houses, Mr McKiernan says. Even though normal water usage is free, the monitoring gives the council a picture of where the resource is being wasted. The feeling is that meter charges are inevitable.
"It is a stick-and-carrot business. If you are talking about saving 200,000 gallons a day, even if you are saving only 50 pence a thousand gallons, that is £100 a day," he says.