{"id":272493,"date":"2026-01-30T20:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T20:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/272493\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T20:01:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T20:01:10","slug":"westmeaths-climate-story-extreme-irony-as-flooding-and-water-shortages-hit-landlocked-crystal-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/272493\/","title":{"rendered":"Westmeath\u2019s Climate Story: Extreme irony as flooding and water shortages hit landlocked Crystal County"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is hoped an offshoot of the project that will pipe water from Shannon to Dublin will alleviate some of the strain\n<\/p>\n

\"Westmeath's<\/p>\n

Landlocked Westmeath may escape rising seas, but, in an apparent case of extreme irony, its two biggest climate risks are flooding and water shortages.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s according to Ambrose Clarke, a senior engineer in the council\u2019s environment, climate action and rural water section, who says around three quarters of the county\u2019s water comes from the Mullingar-Lough Owel supply.<\/p>\n

Last year, Mr Clarke said the lake the supply came from had dropped, putting the county on a hosepipe ban from May until October.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been identified as a climate change problem,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While much of Ireland is getting more frequent and intense rains as a result of rising emissions, Mr Clarke said Westmeath was drier than typical last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the nine months prior to the hosepipe ban, we had probably two thirds of the rainfall in Co Westmeath than we had in the preceding years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Westmeath<\/p>\n

Westmeath was under a hosepipe ban for over four months last year. Photo: PA<\/p>\n

\u201cLong term, flooding and provision of water will be the two main things we\u2019ll have to deal with as a local authority. But Uisce \u00c9ireann is in charge of the water, so they\u2019ll really be doing the running on futureproofing our water supply.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Clarke believes the authority\u2019s plan to pipe water from the River Shannon to Dublin could be the answer to Westmeath\u2019s problems. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey have plans to run a water main from the Parteen Weir to Dublin, with a spur to Mullingar town supply so that it can shore up that in the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Roads<\/p>\n

Roads impassable near Athlone, Co Westmeath, due to the flooding of the Shannon in 2015. Photo: Hany Marzouk<\/p>\n

How your county is weighing in on fighting climate change<\/p>\n

While the multibillion-euro proposal, if approved, may solve water shortages for the county, Westmeath County Council still has work to do.<\/p>\n

According to council\u2019s Climate Action Plan, Westmeath generated 1,639,108 tonnes of greenhouse gases in the baseline year of 2018.<\/p>\n

Agriculture is the county\u2019s biggest emitter, accounting for 40pc of total emissions, followed by the transport (21pc) and residential (16pc) sectors.<\/p>\n

Farmers successfully derailed the council\u2019s first action plan attempt, but farming is now feeling the sting of rising greenhouse gases.<\/p>\n

According to council analysis, Westmeath experienced drought in 2018 and 2021, and is facing into more heatwaves and increasingly severe storms.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The proposed route for the pipeline bringing water from the Shannon to Dublin<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, floods have resulted in \u201cdamaged residential properties, farmland and recreational areas; closure of businesses; and disruption of transport\u201d.<\/p>\n

These impacts are projected to grow more severe and, according to the action plan, \u201cas the population ages, there will be an increase in the number of vulnerable people exposed to heat-related risks\u201d.<\/p>\n

To increase resilience, the council had to plan for and adapt to current and future climate risks, but it must also find ways to reduce the pollution causing the crisis in the first place.<\/p>\n

That will involve measures including encouraging active travel through safe school routes, supporting bus services in Athlone and Mullingar, and developing the Old Rail Trail and Royal Canal greenways.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to bring in cycle routes, but people are saying it\u2019s very wet,\u201d Mr Clarke said. \u201cDenmark would be actually wetter than Ireland and they do a lot of cycling. It\u2019s a culture shift.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of [car] trips are three to five minutes, which could easily be walked or cycled.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019re looking at switching to hydrotreated vegetable oil in the new year, but it\u2019s a stop-gap solution<\/p>\n

He says the council is \u201con target\u201d to meet its 2030 climate commitments, having replaced 80pc of streetlights with LEDs and retrofitted 66pc of homes to various ratings. It is also installing photovoltaic panels and is working with SEAI on a Pathfinder project to reduce energy use.<\/p>\n

But, even with the council tackling the \u201clow-hanging fruit\u201d, making big changes is getting harder and harder \u2013 like in the case of fleet management.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe funds it would take to convert the fleet are substantial, so we\u2019re looking at switching to [hydrotreated vegetable oil] in the new year and we\u2019re making targets that way,\u201d Mr Clarke said. \u201cBut it is a stop-gap solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seamus Hoyne, a sustainable energy expert at Technological University of the Shannon agrees. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s an investment challenge,\u201d he said. \u201cThe technologies are there to decarbonise our buildings and transport fleets, but local authorities have a fixed amount of funds. They have to try and integrate that into their planning and deal with new developments. It\u2019s challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Biodiversity is also a key issue in the county, with some councillors facing criticism for their attitudes to cutting down trees and hedgerows that provide refuge for wildlife, reduce greenhouse gases and help alleviate flooding.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A mature tree suffering from ash dieback. Photo: Roger Jones<\/p>\n

\u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean people in the environmental section share the same opinion,\u201d Mr Clarke said. \u201cWe have employed University College Dublin experts and we\u2019re producing key management guidelines.\u201d<\/p>\n

These guidelines, which will be available to all landowners and the council when finished, will outline what should be done in case of outbreaks like ash dieback. But Mr Clarke said that, generally, \u201cthere\u2019s no need to be taking down trees. We need to increase our canopy cover\u201d.<\/p>\n

Groups like Tyrellspass Tidy Towns and Westmeath Environmental and Climate Action Network are working in this space, and Mr Clarke said the council \u201cwill be introducing new planning restrictions and checking on sites to make sure they are protecting trees\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said the council is also working to reduce flooding by replacing concrete areas with natural materials and installing sustainable urban drainage systems like rain gardens.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings are changing rapidly,\u201d Mr Hoyne said. \u201c[The council] have to do things immediately, but also plan for the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a particular challenge for any organisation to deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Shauna Corr<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is hoped an offshoot of the project that will pipe water from Shannon to Dublin will alleviate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[12212,246,61,60,82],"class_list":["post-272493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-edana-flynn","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}