IRISH WATER HAS identified the Parteen Basin on the River Shannon as the best option for a new drinking water supply for Dublin and the Midlands.

Work has been going on for eight years to identify a new and sustainable water source to enable the region to grow. Currently, 40% of the population lives in this region.

A preliminary options appraisal report published today identified two potentially viable solutions:

• The abstraction of water from the lower Shannon at Parteen Basin in Tipperary
• Desalination of water from the Irish Sea in Dublin.

Of the two, the report identifies abstraction of water at Parteen Basin as the preferred option. The plan would involve taking hundreds of millions of litres of water from the river and pumping it through a pipeline.

The report found this option would have the least environmental impact. The method would use existing hydropower infrastructure, ensuring abstraction can be done within existing normal operating water levels and with no impact on statutory flow requirements in the lower Shannon.

Approximately 2% of the river’s water from the Parteen Basin would be taken.

“The existing water supply sources for the Eastern and Midlands Regions do not have the capacity or resilience to meet demand for an additional 330 million litres of water per day, which increased population and economic growth will generate by 2050,” commented managing director John Tierney.

“A new source must be identified.”

Counties to be supplied include Clare, Tipperary, Offaly, Laois, Westmeath, Kildare, Meath and Dublin.

An environmental assessment is now underway and a ten week period of public consultation has begun.

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