Taking water from lower Shannon in Tipperary could be a much-needed new source of water for the eastern and midlands region, according to a report from Irish Water.
The Shannon’s Parteen Basin is the favourite of four options to provide drinking water for Clare, Tipperary, Offaly, Laois, Westmeath, Kildare, Meath and Dublin.
Irish Water believes water consumption will increase by an extra 330 million litres of water a day by 2050 for the counties – which hold 40 per cent of the country’s population.
“There is a fundamental need for a new source of water supply for the eastern and midlands,” said Irish Water’s Florence White. “Existing supply sources and infrastructure do not have the capacity.”
Fixing pipe leaks is still “an enormous priority”, but it will not meet growing demand. “[It] will not come close to providing the additional capacity required,” she said.
Irish Water identified four potential sources, three along the Shannon, along with desalination of water from the Irish Sea in Dublin. Two years of research narrowed the choice to the Parteen Basin, or desalination.
Taking water from the Shannon near Killaloe would have the least environmental impact, according to Irish Water, because it can make use of existing hydropower equipment.
Hydropower
The project would only use approximately 2 per cent of water that would otherwise have been used for hydropower and there would be "limited impact on the lake", according to Irish Water's Preliminary Options Appraisal Report.
Extracting water in such a way is “common practice” worldwide, said Ms White, though there has been opposition along the Shannon from when it was first mooted. Desalination is a potentially viable option but would cost more and is less environmentally friendly, the report said. “It is cost-prohibitive, only serves Dublin and requires a lot of energy and chemicals,” said Ms White.