Deputy Alan Kelly among objectors to 170km Shannon water pipeline plan

DEPUTY Alan Kelly is among dozens of objectors to the plans for Uisce Éireann to pipe water 170 kilometres across the country from the River Shannon to Dublin.
Many of the objections lodged in planning files claim the project will have unacceptable environmental, social and economic impacts for communities in the Shannon region. They say Dublin will overwhelmingly benefit from the pipeline while rural areas will bear disproportionate risks.
Deputy Kelly's submission to An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP) was made with two fellow members of the Labour Party, Councillors Fiona Bonfield and Louise Morgan Walsh of Tipperary County Council.
The three politicians said they had “serious concerns with this project in the context of its necessity, projected and eventual cost, issues associated with balanced regional development and a range of environmental and ecological concerns.”
They said the proposed abstraction at the Parteen Basin lies within the Lower River Shannon Special Area of Conservation (SAC), and will, they believe, threaten critical habitats and protected species, including pollan, salmon, and trout as well as the habitats of endangered species of water birds.
They pointed out that modelling indicates that even under current proposals, Lough Derg and the Parteen Basin could experience dangerously low water levels during drought conditions, “risking ecological collapse. Climate change analysis by the ICARUS Institute at Maynooth University has shown that in a short number of years, Ireland and the Mid West could experience increased times of drought during the summer months. This would mean that the proposed 2% water abstraction would in fact become a 30% abstraction due to the lowered levels of the river.”
Their submission pointed out that potential impacts on water quality and river resilience are significant, particularly during low flows, which could affect both biodiversity and downstream communities.
They argued that the development does not adequately safeguard against long-term environmental degradation, and mitigation measures proposed are insufficient and non-binding. “In 2018 the level of water in Lough Derg was very low and harbours could not be accessed for tourism or fishing purposes."
They said the fishing industry will be negatively impacted. “If there is not enough water in spawning beds for fish, the fish will not spawn in their natural habitat.”
The Labour politicians said Algal Bloom is a serious issue on Lough Derg annually. “This proposed significant project will only add to this concern , which will also have a detrimental effect on the Lake."
They believe the five-year construction period will cause severe disruption to local communities, including heavy traffic on regional and rural roads, temporary road closures, and risks to public safety. “The scale of works, including large construction compounds and abnormal load movements, will generate significant noise, dust, and loss of agricultural access, with impacts lasting up to 24 months per land parcel.”
Their submission said local tourism will be impacted. “A vital economic driver for the Shannon region, Foynes Port and up as far as Lough Derg, will be adversely affected, with potential damage to boating, sailing, and recreational amenities. It is our belief that there are many other options open to Uisce Eireann to increase water supply in the Dublin region without recourse to damaging the integrity of the River Shannon. There is the Poulaphouca reservoir which is currently under the control of the ESB but is hardly used to generate electricity. This massive reservoir alone would be enough to service Dublin and beyond if the electricity generating apparatus was removed. There are the Slaney, Boyne and Barrow rivers, all of which are far closer to Dublin than the Shannon and with far less disruption to agriculture and habitats.”
They said the water network in Dublin needs to be replaced prior to abstraction of water from any other source. They said Uisce Eireann should begin a massive campaign to replace leaky, lead, Victorian pipe work “which is currently allowing up to 50% of all expensively treated drinking water simply leak into the ground.”
The submission commented that balanced regional development is needed. It said the proposed development of significant infrastructure benefitting the Greater Dublin Area “has the potential to affect negatively the development potential of Tipperary and the Shannon Region and is counter intuitive to the National Planning Framework objective for balanced regional development. Industry should be brought to where the water is and not the other way around.”
The issue of the cost to taxpayers was also outlined. “There are huge concerns regarding the high cost of this project, running into billions of euros. There is no contingency in place for overruns, delays etc, which could have a severe impact on the future delivery of safe water to Tipperary and the protection of our watercourses and natural habitats.”
In conclusion they said Lough Derg and the Shannon System already operate under ecological stress and reduced resilience, and the proposed abstraction “introduces additional low flow risk that is disproportionate during the very conditions that drive ecological failure. The project has not demonstrated compliance with the Water Framework Directive 'no deterioration' requirement, has not met the Habitats Directive Integrity test for Natura 2000 sites and relies on the headline average flow metrics that obscure the real ecological risk. There is also not enough evidence of alternatives being looked at as being more cost effective, environmentally sound and less damaging to balanced regional development. The level of leakage in the pipes in Dublin surely needs to be addressed before any project like this could be even considered. On that basis, and in the absence of conservative, enforceable, drought-realistic operating rules this whole project carries massive risk and needs to be completely reassessed and alternative strategies looked at.”