That’s according to local Fine Gael councillor Phyll Bugler, who says that the entire social fabric of Ballina will be destroyed if the Water Supply Project Eastern and Midlands Region is granted planning permission.
The pipeline will see a 170km pipe installed to pump 330million litres of water a day from the Parteen Basin to Dublin, and will cost the taxpayer an estimated €10billion.
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Cllr Bugler, who also holds a doctorate in organic chemistry, said the pipeline could damage tourism and the ecology of Lough Derg, with serious consequences for the town’s social fabric.
“I love our beautiful Lough Derg, and I certainly don’t want to see any damage to the ecology, to the fish life, the wildlife, and to the whole tourism and social fabric of Lough Derg.
“If the pipeline goes ahead, eight EU directives will be breached, including the water framework directive, the habitats directive, the birds directive and the environmental directive. This proposal will threaten critical habitats and protected species including pollen, eel, salmon, lamprey, trout, as well as the habitats of endangered water birds, such as the curlew,” Cllr Bugler said.
A major flaw in the plan, according to Cllr Bugler and the River Shannon Protection Alliance, which she is a part of, is that Uisce Éireann have not considered low flow periods, when the levels of water in the river are lower than usual.
Cllr Bugler says that the level of water taken from the river during these low flow periods will see the river practically drained.
She claimed that during periods of low flow, the proportion of water taken from the river could rise dramatically.
“That average flow that Uisce Éireann are saying doesn’t make sense because we can have dry periods for the months of April, May, June, July, August and September, and research carried out by Maynooth University has shown that we in the Mid West are going to experience more drought periods during the summer months, whereas Dublin, because the jet stream has moved, is going to get more wetter periods,” she said.
“If there’s less flow coming down the river, then the abstraction is extremely high, the rate of abstraction is not the 2pc touted by Uisce Éireann, it’s 38pc to 40pc of the river,” Cllr Bugler added.
The abstraction of water from the River Shannon and Lough Derg would also lead to an increase in algae, which would endanger the life of many species living in the river and its tributaries.
“If Uisce Éireann take up to 38pc to 40pc of the water that’s flowing down, this will lead to a fish kill, and it will lead to massive algae bloom,” Cllr Bugler explained.
“We cannot afford to have any reduction in water volumes whatsoever in Lough Derg,” she said.
Cllr Bugler also warned that algae blooms could affect water quality, claiming that treating the water could create harmful by-products.
“During that process, what’s known as trihalomethanes (THMs) will form, which is also known as chloroform, which is normally used by dry cleaners to take grease stains out of clothes. There are going to be really, really high levels of this in the water that the greater Dublin area are going to get.
“The water will be toxic and the people in Dublin need to realise that, and refuse to take this water from Uisce Éireann, it’s cancer-causing,” she said.
Another issue, she said, is the high concentration of zebra mussles that live in Lough Derg. They are an invasive species, and their larvae is tiny and will get into this pipe and lead to it clogging up.
“The larvae will get through into the pipe, and the larvae will become more zebra mussles and they will cling to the inside of the pipe and eventually, the pipe will block,” she said.
At the March meeting of Tipperary County Council, councillors discussed the council’s submission to An Coimisiún Pleanála, with all 40 county councillors agreeing to oppose the plans.
Councillor Seamie Morris said that there is no shortage of water in Dublin, but a water management problem instead.
“There is no shortage of water in Dublin, Poulaphouca alone has 43.8 billion gallons of water capacity, but if you look at Dublin’s own water capacity reports, every area of Dublin, none of them are in a red zone, Dublin has a water management issue,” he said.
“They’re loosing 300million litres of expensively treated water into the ground every day. Uisce Éireann were fined €25million last year by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities for their inability to repair leaks.
“We are not here as a region to support a company that’s not able to fix their leaks,” Cllr Morris added.
Fine Gael councillor Mary Hanna Hourigan said a section of the council’s submission that refers to community gain needed to be removed, saying that there is no gain to anyone in Tipperary if this project goes ahead.
Independent councillor Michael O’Meara says that the pipeline is a “recipe for ecological disaster,” while Sinn Féin councillor Annemarie Ryan said that none of the councillors in the chamber have faith in Uisce Éireann to deliver the project if it is given the go ahead.
“Not wanting to be parochial, but I live in a town that has 5,000 people that have no water on a daily basis because of restrictions and leakages. If you put aside the environmental concerns and the ecological issues, does anybody here have confidence in Uisce Éireann to deliver such a project? I could say that not one of us do,” Cllr Ryan said.
Following the debate, councillors agreed on the wording for the local authority’s submission to An Coimisiún Pleanála, which will now be sent to the planning appeals board.
Councillors were told that a decision on the proposed pipeline isn’t expected for two years or more.
Despite this, Uisce Éireann say the project is badly needed and will enable Dublin to grow into the future.
“It is a key part of our 25-year national water supply strategy, and its delivery is critical to the delivery of housing and growth for the State,” Uisce Éireann said.
“Water supply in the Greater Dublin Area and significant parts of the Eastern and Midlands Region is under severe pressure and there is a critical need for a new water source.
“Uisce Éireann acknowledges the importance of Lough Derg for recreation, tourism, and local ecology, and we appreciate the concerns raised by anglers,” the utility said.
“Modelling shows that the abstraction is sustainable within the existing normal operating water level range and the operation of Lough Derg, post works, will look and feel very similar to the way it currently operates, and there will not be a visible day to day difference for any water users,” Uisce Éireann added.
Despite claims from councillors, Uisce Éireann has said that they have considered low flow periods.
“Extensive hydrological and water quality modelling has been undertaken with particular emphasis on drought periods, including an assessment of the peak abstraction in a drought/low flow period.”
Over 1,100 options were considered as part of the selection process for a new water supply to Dublin, they said, adding that the Shannon Pipeline project provided the greatest amount of benefit to as many people as possible.
“The evidence shows that the new Shannon source, delivered through the Water Supply Project, provides the widest benefit to the greatest number of people, with the least environmental impact and in the most cost‑effective manner,” they said.
“Alternative options – including desalination, groundwater sources, new reservoirs, additional abstraction from other rivers, or further leakage reduction – were all fully assessed. Each was found to be insufficient to meet the scale of long‑term demand, did not provide the required resilience, or carried significantly higher environmental or cost impacts,” they added.
Cllr Bugler said that a protest is due to take place in Ballina next weekend for anyone who is opposed to the plans.
“We’ll have a rally of boats on the lake on March 21. All our fishing clubs, our sailing clubs, our cruising clubs, people on kayaks will be there,” she said.
“We are going to show that we are not going to allow the abstraction of water from Lough Derg, and turn our beautiful lake into a dead lake with algae blooms,” Cllr Bugler said.
“If this goes ahead, we will be decimated here for tourism, all the villages around the lake, we will all have no future here,” she warned
The rally will take place at the Ballina slipway from 1.30pm on Saturday, March 21, and all are welcome to attend.
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme