Irish Water opts for Shannon water extraction

The company has been considering a number of options to deal with shortages in the Dublin region and has come down in favour of extracting water from the Shannon at the Parteen Basin below Lough Derg.

The utility has this morning confirmed it plans to extract 2 per cent of the River Shannon's supply which would provide a new water source for a number of counties in the midlands as well as Dublin.

The proposal being put forward would see more than 300 million litres of water being taken from the lower Shannon at Parteen Basin every day.

This is considered to be the least invasive option it will not be taking water directly from Lough Derg while abstraction of water at Parteen is already highly regulated because of the presence of the existing hydro-power plant.

The water would go through a treatment plant on the Tipperary side of the river before being pumped along a 165 kilometre pipeline to Dublin.

The plant would employ 15 full time and 5 contract or part-time staff when up and running.

Irish Water claim 247 jobs would be created in Tipperary during the construction phase together with a capital spend of €124 million in the Premier County.

The overall scheme would cost between €700 and €800 million and could be operational by 2022 if approved by An Bord Pleanala.

There have already been major objections from local groups along the route of the river – including in North Tipperary and East Clare who are concerned about the impact it would have on the area.

It's understood affected landowners will receive a one-off payment for allowing the pipeline through their lands.

As part of the process a 10 week period of public consultation on the 'Preliminary Options Appraisal Report' is now taking place and it concludes on 4 February 2016.