THE PLAN to abstract water from the river Sheen to supplement Kenmare’s water supply represented the first major upgrade of the supply “in over 80 years”, an oral hearing by An Bord Pleanála into the proposal was told yesterday.
The hearing, attended by more than 80 locals and experts at the Kenmare Bay Hotel, was told of the rapid growth experienced by the Co Kerry town in recent years.
The town grew so fast in the three years to 2005 that it reached house numbers predicted for 2021 almost two decades ahead of schedule, the hearing was told.
Kerry County Council is seeking an order under the Water Supplies Act to supplement current abstraction from Lough Eirk with additional water from a new source adjacent to Sheen Falls, southwest of the town.
However, there is strong opposition among farmers upriver at Bonane, who fear their lands will be sterilised. Anglers, too, are opposed because the Sheen is an important salmon and sea trout river, while the town’s chamber of commerce feels it would be more cost-effective to augment the current water sources.
They also dispute the claimed amount of water needed, given the decline in building in Kenmare.
Maura Joy, senior executive engineer with the county council, said the Kenmare water scheme was largely put place in 1928. The main source was a small corrie lake, Lough Eirk, alongside the Moll’s Gap tourist spot.
The water was taken from a stream into the lake and then flowed by gravity into a reservoir.
“The only form of treatment the water currently receives is the addition of chlorine as a disinfectant against bacteriological contamination,” Ms Joy said.
This did not meet the drinking water standards and was a cause of concern, Ms Joy said. A number of other schemes from outlying towns – Kilgarvan and Templenoe and Dawros – were used to supplement the Kenmare supply and two of these did not have treatment, Ms Joy outlined.
Some 2,000 cubic metres a day was the maximum available currently. This was not enough long term and Kenmare needed 4,500 cubic metres, the council felt.
The council had been attempting to resolve the Kenmare supply since 2001, she said. A €4 million upgrade of the network had been carried out but a €5 million water treatment plant is still needed.
However, the Department of the Environment was reluctant to approve the treatment plant contract until the supplementary source had been agreed, she told the meeting.
The proposal to abstract 2,500 cubic metres of water from the Sheen river will involve pumping water from the river and this combined with Lough Eirk and the Dawros option would cost €2.7 million. The water would not be taken during the dry season.
Other options including using mountain lakes could cost three times this, and would run into planning difficulties with wildlife legislation, the meeting heard.
The hearing, under chairman Danny O’Connor, continues today with contributions from those opposing.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Showing posts with label water supply planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water supply planning. Show all posts
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
Friday, 16 October 2009
Councils blamed for water problems
THE Department of the Environment has assigned blame for prolonged pollution problems in drinking water supplies to local authorities for failing to take priority actions.
Secretary general of the Department Geraldine Tallon, said it was up to county councils to move schemes forward once funding had been approved.
She was responding to questioning from Fine Gael deputy Padraic McCormack, who said the department should have cracked down on Galway City Council for leaving parts of the city around Terryland without safe water.
Ms Tallon told the Oireachtas Committee on the Environment budgets had been sanctioned for water improvement projects under the National Development Plan but the Department could not manage them directly.
She told the Committee despite upgrade works many householders around the country still had to boil water before it was safe.
A list mentioned at the committee revealed more than 41,000 people drawing from 18 different water schemes are now being advised to boil water to avoid contamination from the likes of E-coli and Cryptosporidium.
The longest suffering residents are in Ennis, Co Clare, where the Drumcliffe treatment plant has been subject to a boil water notice for almost four and a half years.
A further nine areas have been under a notice for more than six months with the majority of boil water orders concentrated in Galway, West Cork and Kerry.
The Environmental Protection Agency was also represented at the meeting and said it was policing county councils which did not adhere to European standards. The EPA said it issued more than 100 warnings to local authorities on the quality of water being provided.
Galway County Council has been successfully prosecuted. And the EPA is awaiting a judgment in a case against Clare County Council.
Its director, Mary Kelly, said in the majority of cases authorities brought themselves into line once a directive was issued.
In cases where it was not resolved satisfactorily Ms Kelly said it was prepared for prosecutions.
However, the department indicated future funding projects are likely to suffer from budgetary constraints.
Ms Tallon said the entire water service upgrade programme, included in National Development plan, was to cost €4.7billion.
This included €1.1bn of contributions from development levies.
However, she admitted there was likely to be difficulty meeting this because of lower levels of development and the difficulty chasing down monies due to local authorities.
After being quizzed by Roisín Shortall of the Labour Party, officials outlined the case of Dublin City council where 64 enforcement orders had been issued against developers who had not paid levies due.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Secretary general of the Department Geraldine Tallon, said it was up to county councils to move schemes forward once funding had been approved.
She was responding to questioning from Fine Gael deputy Padraic McCormack, who said the department should have cracked down on Galway City Council for leaving parts of the city around Terryland without safe water.
Ms Tallon told the Oireachtas Committee on the Environment budgets had been sanctioned for water improvement projects under the National Development Plan but the Department could not manage them directly.
She told the Committee despite upgrade works many householders around the country still had to boil water before it was safe.
A list mentioned at the committee revealed more than 41,000 people drawing from 18 different water schemes are now being advised to boil water to avoid contamination from the likes of E-coli and Cryptosporidium.
The longest suffering residents are in Ennis, Co Clare, where the Drumcliffe treatment plant has been subject to a boil water notice for almost four and a half years.
A further nine areas have been under a notice for more than six months with the majority of boil water orders concentrated in Galway, West Cork and Kerry.
The Environmental Protection Agency was also represented at the meeting and said it was policing county councils which did not adhere to European standards. The EPA said it issued more than 100 warnings to local authorities on the quality of water being provided.
Galway County Council has been successfully prosecuted. And the EPA is awaiting a judgment in a case against Clare County Council.
Its director, Mary Kelly, said in the majority of cases authorities brought themselves into line once a directive was issued.
In cases where it was not resolved satisfactorily Ms Kelly said it was prepared for prosecutions.
However, the department indicated future funding projects are likely to suffer from budgetary constraints.
Ms Tallon said the entire water service upgrade programme, included in National Development plan, was to cost €4.7billion.
This included €1.1bn of contributions from development levies.
However, she admitted there was likely to be difficulty meeting this because of lower levels of development and the difficulty chasing down monies due to local authorities.
After being quizzed by Roisín Shortall of the Labour Party, officials outlined the case of Dublin City council where 64 enforcement orders had been issued against developers who had not paid levies due.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Monday, 3 November 2008
Artificial lake to supply Dublin's water?
An artificial Midlands lake district with the capability to store four months' water supply for Dublin is being considered under ambitious new plans.
The measure is among ten proposals put forward to tackle the capital's water shortage, which is expected to hit home in just 3 years' time.
A major report, seen by the Irish Independent, says that water pumped from the River Shannon could be stored in a 300-acre artificial lake created on Derrygreenagh Bog, close to Rochfortbridge.
It could become a major tourist attraction for the Midlands with boating, angling and water sports facilities.
The proposals come as city engineers say the capital's water supply is on a 'knife-edge' with the booming population placing extreme strain on existing supplies.
If investment is postponed, there will be water shortages by 2011, and by 2016 there will be a need for permanent water rationing, it warns.
Under the the plans before Dublin City Council, water would be extracted from the Shannon during times of flooding, resulting in little or no impact on water levels in the river.
The storage of water in the bogs is being strongly considered because it would allow excess water to be stored, and help prevent flooding during the winter months.
Other proposals being considered include desalination of sea water, extracting groundwater from Fingal and Kildare before treatment, and using the River Barrow to 'top up' existing supplies.
Up to 80pc of the drinking water required for the local authority areas covered by Dublin City, Fingal, South Dublin, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow comes from the River Liffey, with the remainder from Co Wicklow's Poulaphouca reservoir, and the rivers Dodder and Vartry, and some from groundwater sources.
By 2016, existing sources will not have the capability to cater for the city's needs. But the city's population is expected to increase by 500,000 by 2031.
Capacity
According to city engineer Tom Leahy: "Supply and demand is on a knife-edge. Other cities have 10-25pc spare capacity, Dublin has none. A heavy frost can result in the old cast-iron mains losing 5pc capacity overnight.
"With planned improvements, by 2011 we will have 1pc spare capacity."
Paul Melia
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
The measure is among ten proposals put forward to tackle the capital's water shortage, which is expected to hit home in just 3 years' time.
A major report, seen by the Irish Independent, says that water pumped from the River Shannon could be stored in a 300-acre artificial lake created on Derrygreenagh Bog, close to Rochfortbridge.
It could become a major tourist attraction for the Midlands with boating, angling and water sports facilities.
The proposals come as city engineers say the capital's water supply is on a 'knife-edge' with the booming population placing extreme strain on existing supplies.
If investment is postponed, there will be water shortages by 2011, and by 2016 there will be a need for permanent water rationing, it warns.
Under the the plans before Dublin City Council, water would be extracted from the Shannon during times of flooding, resulting in little or no impact on water levels in the river.
The storage of water in the bogs is being strongly considered because it would allow excess water to be stored, and help prevent flooding during the winter months.
Other proposals being considered include desalination of sea water, extracting groundwater from Fingal and Kildare before treatment, and using the River Barrow to 'top up' existing supplies.
Up to 80pc of the drinking water required for the local authority areas covered by Dublin City, Fingal, South Dublin, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow comes from the River Liffey, with the remainder from Co Wicklow's Poulaphouca reservoir, and the rivers Dodder and Vartry, and some from groundwater sources.
By 2016, existing sources will not have the capability to cater for the city's needs. But the city's population is expected to increase by 500,000 by 2031.
Capacity
According to city engineer Tom Leahy: "Supply and demand is on a knife-edge. Other cities have 10-25pc spare capacity, Dublin has none. A heavy frost can result in the old cast-iron mains losing 5pc capacity overnight.
"With planned improvements, by 2011 we will have 1pc spare capacity."
Paul Melia
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Friday, 22 June 2007
Council rules out lake water supply
THE possibility of taking water from mountain lakes to supply Kenmare has been ruled out by Kerry County Council.
Using such lakes as water sources would involve the building of a large dam in a scenic area, which would be of concern to the tourism industry. However, council engineers have opted to abstract water from the River Sheen to improve the supply to Kenmare.
Senior water services engineer Ger MacNamara stressed the urgency of providing a sufficient supply to Kenmare and warned of a crisis if a solution was not found soon.
Mr MacNamara felt abstraction from the Sheen was the most efficient way of providing supplies.
But, Independent Councillor Danny Healy-Rae believed lakes high up in the mountains would be a better source and would not interfere with farmers.
“Getting water from the higher lakes would also minimise pollution and ensure clean water,” he added.
He said there was concern among farmers that their activities would be restricted and planning permissions curtailed.
In August, Mr Healy-Rae claimed, there could be supply shortages in Kenmare when water levels in the Sheen dropped.
Irish Examiner
Using such lakes as water sources would involve the building of a large dam in a scenic area, which would be of concern to the tourism industry. However, council engineers have opted to abstract water from the River Sheen to improve the supply to Kenmare.
Senior water services engineer Ger MacNamara stressed the urgency of providing a sufficient supply to Kenmare and warned of a crisis if a solution was not found soon.
Mr MacNamara felt abstraction from the Sheen was the most efficient way of providing supplies.
But, Independent Councillor Danny Healy-Rae believed lakes high up in the mountains would be a better source and would not interfere with farmers.
“Getting water from the higher lakes would also minimise pollution and ensure clean water,” he added.
He said there was concern among farmers that their activities would be restricted and planning permissions curtailed.
In August, Mr Healy-Rae claimed, there could be supply shortages in Kenmare when water levels in the Sheen dropped.
Irish Examiner
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