Posted in Extant waterways, Foreign parts, Ireland, Natural heritage, Shannon, Sources, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged freshwater, Ireland, jellyfish, Lough Derg, Shannon
Someone asked me recently about the progress of the scheme to supply Dublin with water from the Shannon. I had to confess that I haven’t been keeping up with the matter, because I don’t think it’s very important, but happily KildareStreet.com has provided an update. On Tuesday 16 July 2013 one of the Sinn Féin chappies, Brian Stanley of Laois-Offaly, asked a priority question:
54. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the progress being made on the Dublin, Garryhinch, Shannon water supply project; and the timeframe for planning, construction and completion phases of this project.
I suspect that most folk think of the scheme as one involving Dublin and the Shannon, so that the inclusion of Garryhinch may have been puzzling. It seems that Garryhinch is on the road from Portarlington to Mountmellick, just after that nasty bend where folk go to commit golf.
And Mr Stanley is interested not because he wants Garryhinch, Portarlington Golf Club, or indeed Portarlington and Mountmellick to be flooded but because he wants his constituents to be employed digging a hole in the ground there (a bit like the Clones Sheugh, really) and working in a water-based ecopark that will include a reservoir where the Shannon’s water will be stored.
Anyway, Fergus O’Dowd [FG, Louth], who is a Minister of State for something, replied:
The Dublin water supply scheme long-term water source is listed as a scheme at planning stage in my Department’s water services investment programme 2010 to 2013. Dublin City Council is the lead authority for this scheme, on behalf of all of the water services authorities in the greater Dublin area.
Studies carried out for the city council and a strategic environmental assessment have identified a preferred option which involves abstraction of raw water from Lough Derg and pumping the abstracted water through a new pipeline to a proposed storage reservoir at Garryhinch cut-away bog in County Offaly, forming part of a proposed midlands water-based eco-park. After treatment, water would then be conveyed to the west of Dublin where the new supply would be integrated with the existing storage and trunk distribution system.
In December 2012, the Department approved a brief for the engagement of consultants for the planning and statutory approval phase of the scheme. Dublin City Council has carried out a procurement process and I understand it will shortly be in a position to appoint a consultant to advance the further planning of this scheme.
The programme for project implementation has been developed based on the planning and statutory approval phase taking approximately two years. The detailed design and procurement phase should take a further two years, while the construction and commissioning phase should be completed in three years.
Following their appointment by Dublin City Council, the consultants will undertake the environmental impact statement and other statutory requirements in preparation for a submission to An Bord Pleanála which will adjudicate on the matter.
He forgot to mention “best practice”, so he’s lost some brownie points. Mr Stanley wanted it all to happen much faster, to be completed before 2021, but the discussion provided no more useful information. Bord na Móna has some more information about the eco-park here. All good stuff, much as I suggested for Lough Oughter, but I’d lose the eco title: eco stuff is so last millennium.
Posted in Ashore, Drainage, Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Natural heritage, Operations, Politics, Shannon, The turf trade, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management
Tagged Bord na Mona, Dublin, Dublin City Council, Garryhinch, golf, Ireland, Lough Derg, Mountmellick, Operations, Portarlington, Shannon, water level, water supply, waterways, Waterways Ireland
The figures for Shannon lock passages to the end of June 2013 are now available. The decline continues, though perhaps more slowly.
Shannon lock and bridge passages January to June as percentages of the 2003 number
The usual caveats apply: the underlying figures (kindly supplied by Waterways Ireland) do not record total waterways usage because, for instance, sailing, fishing or waterskiing on lakes or river stretches, which did not involve a passage through a lock or Portumna Bridge, would not be recorded. The passage records are our only consistent long-term indicator of usage of the Shannon but they would not show, for instance, a change in the balance of types of activities from those in larger cruising boats to those in smaller (sailing, fishing, waterskiing) boats. It is quite possible, therefore, that overall usage might be increasing while long-distance cruising was declining.
Shannon lock and bridge passages by private boats January to June
As it happens, the figures show a small increase over 2012 in passages by private boats. I suspect that July’s warm weather will spur a further increase.
Folk living in Ireland, whether owners or prospective hirers, are likely to be able to react quickly to better (or worse) weather by doing more (or less) boating; folk living abroad may be less able to change their holiday plans. Accordingly, July’s weather might (I’m speculating here) mean an increase in passages by private boats and by boats hired by Irish residents; it might not lead to an increase in hiring from abroad.
Traffic in hired boats continued to decline in June.
Shannon lock and bridge passages by hired boats January to June
That decline outweighed the small increase in private traffic, leading to an overall decline in the first six months as compared with the same period in 2012, which itself continued the pattern set in 2007.
Shannon lock and bridge passages by all boats January to June
I wondered whether the figures might show any change in the geographical distribution of activity. WI’s reports don’t show separate figures for private and hired boats for the individual locks, but it seems to me that the hire business is becoming more concentrated on northern waters, from Lough Ree upwards. If that is so, then there might be an increase in the proportion of passages through the northern locks, from Tarmonbarry upwards, and a decrease in the proportion passing through Portumna Bridge and Meelick (Victoria) Lock.
I put the WI reporting stations in four groups:
The figures suggest that the distribution is indeed changing, but gradually rather than dramatically. Athlone’s figures are pretty steady, the outliers are declining slightly and Portumna + Meelick are declining a bit more; the northern locks (Tarmonbarry to Knockvicar) are taking the gains. Comments or alternative interpretations welcome.
Lock passages by group
The figures for 2013 are for the six months January to June; those for other years are for twelve months.
The locks could of course be grouped in other ways, and I may try some of them in future months.
Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, Sea, Shannon, Sources, Tourism, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management, Weather
Tagged Albert Lock, Athlone, Ballinasloe, Battlebridge, boats, bridge, Clare, Clarendon lock, Clondra, Drumshanbo, hire boat, Ireland, Jamestown, Killaloe, Knockvicar, Limerick, Lough Allen, Lough Derg, Meelick, Operations, passage, Pollboy lock, Portumna, private boat, Rooskey, Roosky, Sarsfield Lock, Shannon, Tarmonbarry, traffic, vessels, Victoria Lock, waterways, Waterways Ireland
Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish waterways general, Operations, People, Safety, Shannon, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management, Weather
Tagged Ardnacrusha, canal, Clare, Coast Guard, drowning, ESB, Ireland, Killaloe, Limerick, lock, Lough Derg, O'Briensbridge, Operations, Shannon, waterways
Messrs abebooks.co.uk have drawn my attention to the fact that Sharston Books of Manchester (which is a town or city within Her current Majesty’s Realm) have a copy of this 1963 Shell/BP guide for sale. John Weaving was Navigation Editor. I already have it, so I mention it here in case anyone else is interested.
I have no connection, commercial or otherwise, to the seller.
Some additional information from the Clare Champion and the Limerick Post. The Irish Mirror has one of the few accounts that includes discussions with participants.
Posted in Economic activities, Engineering and construction, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Operations, People, Safety, Shannon, Sources, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management, Weather
Tagged boats, Clare, Ireland, Killaloe, Limerick, Lough Derg, Operations, rescue, search, Shannon, vessels, waterways, Waterways Ireland
Last Friday evening, 21 June 2013, was not a good time to be out on Lough Derg. We were heading north, with the waves behind us, and had little difficulty until entering port, but we could hear on the VHF what must have been one of the biggest search and rescue operations on the Shannon in recent years.
We had switched on at what seemed like a fairly early point in the proceedings, and kept listening until the Coast Guard were assured that everybody was accounted for. We weren’t able to attend to the whole thing, as manoeuvres during and after berthing occupied our attention for some time, but we got a pretty clear picture. The Irish Times report (which will probably disappear behind a paywall at some stage) is here; I think it has some minor details wrong but the gist of it is correct; its later report is here. The Clare Herald has a very detailed account here, the Clare Champion account is here and the Limerick Post adds some information here.
The event was said by the Irish Times to be “hosted for FISA in Ireland by St Michael’s Rowing Club of Limerick” but I can’t see anything about it on either organisation’s website. I presume that the boats were something like this one.
Quad at Clonlara in 2011
It’s a quad, with each rower using two oars; it carries a cox and it’s used for touring rowing, so it’s not as slim as a standard racing shell.
By the way, just to be clear, none of the photos on this page were taken during last Friday’s operation.
RNLI Lough Derg lifeboat
From what we could hear, the operation involved volunteers from Killaloe Coast Guard, the RNLI at Dromineer, the Community Rescue Boats from Mountshannon and Limerick and at least one yacht, which (I think) took one of the rowing boats in tow; that yacht’s participation and careful provision of information to the Coast Guard was admirable.
Killaloe Coast Guard RIB
We heard discussion of proposals to ask the Civil Defence to participate as well, and the Clare Herald confirms they did turn out. It seems that the University of Limerick Activity Centre boat was out too, as was Peter Hooker of RNLI in his own boat.
Limerick Marine SAR Land Rover
That’s just the volunteers, and if I’ve left anybody out I’m sorry; let me know and I’ll amend this.
Then there were the professionals: the Coast Guard staff on VHF, the Gardaí on shore, the helicopter crew. And, again, the Clare Herald makes it clear that lots of other people were involved too: fire brigade and ambulance units, paramedics and a hospital consultant.
All in all, this was a major operation and a lot of people put in a lot of effort that night, in bloody awful weather.
I formed the impression that communication amongst the members of the rowing fleet, and between them and the rescue services, was poor. It was difficult to establish what rowers were where and how many were unaccounted for. The Clare Herald story seems to support that conclusion: it says that Gardaí had to travel to the rowers’ hotel to make sure that everybody had turned up and that the search was not formally stood down until 11.30pm.
I don’t know what communications equipment and what sort of organisation and safety procedures the rowing group had, so I’m not going to comment on them. Instead, I want to go off at a tangent. It struck me that life would have been easier for everybody if each boat had had a handheld VHF and someone able to operate it. Such sets can be bought for as little as £50 in the UK or €75 in Ireland.
So the technology is now very cheap and, for short range work as on Lough Derg, a handheld VHF should be adequate. But if you want to be legally entitled to use a VHF set, matters are much more complicated. I’ll discuss that in another post.
Posted in Economic activities, Extant waterways, Ireland, Irish inland waterways vessels, Non-waterway, Operations, People, Safety, Scenery, Shannon, Sources, Tourism, Uncategorized, Water sports activities, waterways, Waterways management, Weather
Tagged boats, Clare, Coast Guard, Dromineer, helicopter, Ireland, Killaloe, Limerick, Lough Derg, Mountshannon, Operations, rescue, RNLI, rowing, search, Shannon, Tipperary, ULAC, vessels, VHF, waterways
Irish waterways history 