River Shannon to Dublin pipeline

Dublin City Council published a plan in 2011 to supply up to 350 million litres of water a day from Lough Derg to Dublin city and region. In January 2014, Irish Water took over management of the project which is currently in the Planning Stage. In 2016 it was proposed that over two million people will benefit from the water supplying not only Dublin but also an area including Arklow, Athlone, Athy, Carlow, Drogheda, Mullingar, Navan, Portaloise and Tullamore.[1] In 2018 Irish Water announced plans to seek planning permission for the project.[2]

Project now under review

The proposed pipeline has now been sent for review by the CRU, Irish Water’s economic regulator, amid questions about Irish Water’s leakage targets, whether groundwater was appropriately considered as an alternative to the pipeline, and the cost of the proposal.[3][4]

Environmental and economic concerns

Various groups are opposing the pipeline on, among other things, economic and environmental grounds. The River Shannon Protection Alliance, Fight the Pipe and Kennedy Analysis have been the most vocal opponents.[5] One of the key arguments of those objecting to the pipeline is that if Irish Water met its own leakage reduction targets in Dublin there would be no need for the pipeline at all.[6]

Kennedy Analysis appeared before the Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government (alongside Irish Water) in April 2018 to debate the proposed pipeline.[7][8][9]

Ireland has extremely high levels of leakage - according to Irish Water’s 2015 business plan network leakage alone (i.e. leakage on the distribution side of the network, not including any household leakage) was 49%.[10]

Average leakage in cities around the globe is considerably lower than this – a 2017 KPMG study of 35 studies globally found that average leakage was 10-13%.[11]

Preferred route

In November 2016 the Parteen Basin to the south of the lough was chosen as the proposed site of extraction. Water would be pumped via Birdhill to a break pressure tank at Knockanacree near Cloughjordan, all in County Tipperary and gravity fed from there to Peamount in Dublin.[12][13][14][15]

Concerns

Various groups have been formed by those challenging the pipe.[16]

As the proposed extraction of water upstream of the ESB's hydroelectric station at Ardnacrusha may reduce the flow available for the generation of electricity, Irish Water will compensate ESB for any loss.[1]

References
  1. "Preferred route for Shannon-Dublin pipeline published". RTÉ.ie. 8 November 2016. Archived from the original on 9 November 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  2. O'Sullivan, Kevin (24 April 2018). "Irish Water to seek planning permission for Shannon pipeline". The Irish Times. Dublin. ISSN 0791-5144. Archived from the original on 16 June 2018. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  3. "Irish Times view on Dublin's water supply". The Irish Times. Dublin. 19 July 2019. ISSN 0791-5144. Archived from the original on 3 September 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
  4. "Terms of reference" (PDF). November 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 December 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  5. Hilliard, Mark (24 April 2018). "Shannon-to-Dublin water pipeline 'simply wrong' says critic". The Irish Times. Dublin. ISSN 0791-5144. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
  6. O'Sullivan, Kevin (16 July 2019). "Shannon pipeline not needed if Dublin water leaks fixed, study claims". The Irish Times. Dublin. ISSN 0791-5144. Archived from the original on 10 December 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
  7. "Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government debate - Wednesday, 25 Apr 2018". Oireachtas. 25 April 2018. Archived from the original on 23 December 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
  8. "The Kennedy Analysis of Irish Water's proposed Shannon Project". Kennedy Analysis. Archived from the original on 23 December 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  9. "Kennedy Analysis". Archived from the original on 23 December 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2019 – via www.youtube.com.
  10. "Irish Water Business Plan: Transforming Water Services in Ireland to 2021" (PDF). Ervia. 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
  11. "Benchmarking city services" (PDF). KPMG International. 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 December 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
  12. "Break pressure tank" (PDF). www.watersupplyproject.ie. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 November 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  13. "Warning of Shannon water extraction". RTÉ News. 31 July 2008. Archived from the original on 8 November 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  14. Prendiville, Norma (7 August 2015). "Shannon water extraction a concern for Limerick councillors". Limerick Leader. Archived from the original on 28 December 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  15. River Shannon Protection Alliance (26 October 2011). "Why we say the Dublin Region Water Supply Project is a bad scheme" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 October 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2022 – via Oireachtas.
  16. "Meeting to 'Fight the Pipe' this Saturday". The Nenagh Guardian. 8 December 2016. Archived from the original on 28 December 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
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