I hear a pipe is to be laid from Tipperary to Dublin to bring drinking water from the river Shannon to the capital. What’s this all about?
Uisce Éireann is seeking planning permission to lay 172km of underground pipe through Tipperary, Offaly, Kildare and Dublin with a pumping station and treatment plant at the Shannon end and a reservoir at the Dublin end.
It’s the biggest water infrastructure project in the history of the State and the planning application comprises more than 500 reports and documents.
Why does Dublin need Shannon water? Don’t they have enough rain and rivers of their own?
Greater Dublin’s population of 1.7 million has a massive thirst for water and Uisce Éireann says the available headroom – the extra supply needed to cover drought or sudden surges in demand – is negligible.
The Liffey already supplies more than 80 per cent of the region’s water and it can’t cope with more demand. Uisce Éireann says future population growth means a new source of daily water supply is needed.
RM Block
It sounds like a massive construction project – who will it affect?
Around 500 farmers and landowners are on the proposed route of the pipeline and Uisce Éireann wants parcels of their land for temporary or permanent access so it can build the pipe and carry out maintenance on it in perpetuity.
A package is on offer to buy the land or pay for wayleaves or rights of way and to compensate for disruption and any loss of income from farming or other activities.
Mostly it has been accepted but around 25 per cent of owners are still in negotiations and some may be subject to compulsory purchase orders (CPO).
In fact, all landowners are listed in a huge CPO notice advertised this week, although most will be taken off it as their agreements are formalised in the coming months.
How much is all this going to cost?
The current anticipated price tag is at €4.58-€5.96 billion but the larger figure is the more likely – if it can be contained at that level.
Would the money not be better spent fixing leaks in Dublin’s pipes?
It’s true about 30 per cent of all drinking water disappears through damaged pipes.
Uisce Éireann says it has reduced that figure from over 40 per cent 10 years ago.
However, it says it will never be able to fix all the leaks as the pipes are located under layers – and in some cases centuries – of development.
It also says that every time it fixes a leak in the oldest pipes, it increases water pressure which strains a weak point somewhere else along the line which then also ruptures.
