Water - let's keep it in Mayo

nuac

I note a national body is being formed to deal with water supplies. A large portion of Mayo is supplied from Lough Mask.

Afaik know this lake drains into the Corrib, probably thru various fissures in the limestone.

As Galway continues to expand, it's need for water may lower levels in Mask.

Apart from domestic use, some industries require large constant supplies of water, and if that is not available the jobs go elsewhere.

Any views on this? any way of controlling any drain on Mask?

neiphin

thought it was full of the brown stuff anyway

finisklin

Water rates are going to curtail demand.

How about starting an Lough mask action group? Protect Mayo water. This is something I am sure there is politcal interest and that the county council may support quietly.

Coillte_Bhoy

The water does not 'belong' to Mayo

nuac

Coillte Bhoy, afaik all the rivers and streams feeding into Lough Mask and the adjoining Lough Carra have their basins in Mayo

imho Mayo are entitled to claim owership of it's waters - certianly more so than e.g. Co Galway.

As Carra drains into Mask, and Mask into Corrib, I feel there should be some control on the amount of water extracted in Galway from Corrib - to avoid pressure on Mask. Much of Mayo depends on Mask for it's supply.

Coillte_Bhoy

nuac wrote: »

Coillte Bhoy, afaik all the rivers and streams feeding into Lough Mask and the adjoining Lough Carra have their basins in Mayo

imho Mayo are entitled to claim owership of it's waters - certianly more so than e.g. Co Galway.

As Carra drains into Mask, and Mask into Corrib, I feel there should be some control on the amount of water extracted in Galway from Corrib - to avoid pressure on Mask. Much of Mayo depends on Mask for it's supply.

Fair enough if you're speajking in a geographical sense. But who or what is this Mayo that you want tocalim ownership? The County Council??? Talk about parochialism at its worst. :rolleyes:

Orion

nuac wrote: »

imho Mayo are entitled to claim owership of it's waters - certianly more so than e.g. Co Galway.

Or the water could be described as being Irish. And as far as I know Galway is also part of Ireland.

ash23

I can't recall the last time there was a shortage of water in Ireland that wasn't caused by contamination at the source or by problems with pipes, cold weather etc.
In other words, it appears to me that there is more than enough water available and therefore we shouldn't be possessive of it. it's not like drought is a regular occurance in our rain washed isle.
So long as the cost of supplying to Galway isn't borne by Mayo CoCo then I don't see the problem.

finisklin

ash23 wrote: »

So long as the cost of supplying to Galway isn't borne by Mayo CoCo then I don't see the problem.

Surely we can look after our own needs first? What about Galway's supplies....OYIF, they have significant problems with there water quality so I can't see them recipricating. :rolleyes:

ash23

finisklin wrote: »

Surely we can look after our own needs first? What about Galway's supplies....OYIF, they have significant problems with there water quality so I can't see them recipricating. :rolleyes:

There's no shortage so what's the problem exactly? We're not too concerned about using Galway for our own needs (for example the centres of excellence in UCHG or the orthopaedic unit in Merlin Park).
Should we be confined to services in Mayo simply because we live here?
Should we not be allowed attend hospitals, consultants etc in Galway because we're in Mayo and it's Galway soil and Galway water we'd be using while there. :rolleyes:

finisklin

ash23 wrote: »

There's no shortage so what's the problem exactly? We're not too concerned about using Galway for our own needs (for example the centres of excellence in UCHG or the orthopaedic unit in Merlin Park).
Should we be confined to services in Mayo simply because we live here?
Should we not be allowed attend hospitals, consultants etc in Galway because we're in Mayo and it's Galway soil and Galway water we'd be using while there. :rolleyes:

It's not unreasonable to consider Mayo's needs first and then for other counties to avail of the excess water at that point. To be honest my problem is the fact that we are going to have to pay for it in the very near future. Other than that I couldn't give a sh*t, TBH.

oscarBravo

finisklin wrote: »

To be honest my problem is the fact that we are going to have to pay for it in the very near future.

I'm pretty sure you won't have to pay for any of the water that Galway people use.

finisklin

oscarBravo wrote: »

I'm pretty sure you won't have to pay for any of the water that Galway people use.

Good point and to rephrase my original statement.....

"To be honest my problem is the fact that I am going to have to pay for it in the very near future".

nuac

Thanks for the various replies.

My point iin raising the issue is that water supply is not infinite - there are and will be shortages. E.g. the proposals to pipe water from the Shannon to Dublin and area to meet anticipated demand there. Many in Shannon area not happy about this'.

Galway is a fast developing area and obviously it will have an increasing demand for water. Corrib, into which Mask drains appears to be it's main source. If in time usage from Corrib means less water available from Mask, there may be problems in Mayo.

For instance some industries need substantial amounts of water, Allergan who employ about 800 in Westport needs substantial water supplies. At a time when Westport towns own supply was under pressure, government of the day sanctioned an emergency pipe line into Allergan from Lough Mask to protecf the jobs there.

My fear is that if another large industry requiring substantial water supplies were looking at a Mayo site they may be advised that the Mask supply was uncertain, and that they should go to Galway or Shannon side.

Nothing can be done physically about this- E.g It is not possible to block the flow from Mask to Corrib as it flows thru many fissures in the karstic limestone.

The minimum would be to monitor all planning proposals and water abstraction orders etc in Galway affecting Corrib to protect water levels in Mask..

At present Mayo CC is the sanitary and water authority for the county and the body entitled to consider these issue.

The Carra-Mask Anglers Association has also over the years monitored water supply in Mask and I expect would be interested in these issues.

A National Water Authority is on the way. We should evolve a policy on this issue in Mayo before it is set up.

In reply to one poster yes there are many facilities in Galway which Mayo people use. As taxpayers we are entitled to do so.

THat does not mean that we should allow others to use to the detriment of Mayo what is now and will increasingly be a scarce resource.

finisklin

Anything is possible when it comes to water and we shouldn't take it for granted.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0811/breaking1.html

ash23

finisklin wrote: »

Anything is possible when it comes to water and we shouldn't take it for granted.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/0811/breaking1.html

No but would you be complaining if Lough Mask dried up and Mayo wanted to take water from the Shannon?

finisklin

ash23 wrote: »

No but would you be complaining if Lough Mask dried up and Mayo wanted to take water from the Shannon?

What if the Shannon dries up and the midlands wanted to take water from Mask? :eek:

ash23

finisklin wrote: »

What if the Shannon dries up and the midlands wanted to take water from Mask? :eek:

Then let them if it's there. Would you actually see parts of the country stuck for water when we have it?

finisklin

ash23 wrote: »

Then let them if it's there. Would you actually see parts of the country stuck for water when we have it?

To our detriment?

ash23

finisklin wrote: »

To our detriment?

Yes. I wouldn't see anyone go without water if I had a supply. We're a country, not just a county. By your logic, those living in townlands beside Lough Mask could get territorial and say those furthur afield in Mayo aren't welcome to use the lake cutting off towns furthur North like Westport, Castlebar, Ballina etc.

finisklin

ash23 wrote: »

Yes. I wouldn't see anyone go without water if I had a supply. We're a country, not just a county. By your logic, those living in townlands beside Lough Mask could get territorial and say those furthur afield in Mayo aren't welcome to use the lake cutting off towns furthur North like Westport, Castlebar, Ballina etc.

If only this country (and county!) had more open minded and less parochial people like you. I guess we are where we are and stuck with who we have.

ash23

finisklin wrote: »

If only this country (and county!) had more open minded and less parochial people like you. I guess we are where we are and stuck with who we have.

I'm not from here originally so that's probably it.

I am from beside the Shannon originally and the same debate is going on there about Dublin taking "our" water and I feel the same as how I feel about this. There was plenty of it over the winter when the whole place was flooded. If only dublin had taken some of it then!

finisklin

Don't forget that people in the north of the county's water supply is not from the South of the county!

On a related topic, anybody using a rain water harvesting system and how well does it work?

TopTec

finisklin wrote: »

Don't forget that people in the north of the county's water supply is not from the South of the county!

AFAIK I get mine from Lough Conn, I live 5 miles from Ballina.

TT

Mickeroo

There's no water shortage in Ireland I'm not sure whats going on with this thread.

nuac

Mickeroo
I believe water shortages do exxist and are expected to be more acute in the future around the more urbanised parts of the country

E.g the plans suggested to take water from Shannon to the Dublin area.

My concern it that an increasingly urbanised Galway ares may have increased demands for water shich may have to come from Mask.

Assuming the Mayo towns also grow, and that we attract more industries such as Allergan which require large quantities of water, we may find the water has gone to Galway.

I appreciate that we cannot be parochial about resources. However I would like to see an overall water management plan for the country so that this increasingly scarce resource in properly managed and used.

E.g. Dublin should not be allowed to tgap into Shannon until they have shown they can managed their own water resources properly by fixing alll the leaks in their system and by charging for use of water.

Meanwhile I hope somebody is monitoring the Mask/Corrib situation.

There are Trustee in charge of navaigation on Mask and Corrib, which I think were set up before the County Councils in 1898, and may now be subsidiary bodies of the Council. They would appear to have a function re water levels

Sponge Bob

Galway City will be robbin water off the Rossies as well and I don't see them complaining

Course ye are entirely welcome to dam the Mask and not let it leave Mayo.

You do know that the _possibility_ that water _may_ be extracted for drinking downstream of your location means you must test your septic tank every year from around 2013 onwards.....in case you poison some Galway person.

A dam would protect you from that liability

nuac

Sponge Bob

I believe it is impossible to dam the outflow from Mask to Corrib. There are many fissures in the limestone between them.

I believe that about 1890 ( uncertain about the date ) there was a proposal to build a canal between Mask and Corrib so that boats could travel through both lakes. It failed as the water kept flowing down thru holes in the limestone.

As suggested above there is need for a national water use plan so that i.e. a growing Galway does not take water that will later be needed in Mayo.

The same applies to Dublln's proposal to take water from the Shannon. Other centres; needs to be considered.

I am sure there are other industries around like Allergan who need a good water supply, and there may be competition for such industries in the future.

Sponge Bob

Grout them fissures when you build the dam. Keep your water in Mayo by any means possible. Thanks for all your effort.

nuac

May not be that easy to grout the fissures Sponge Bob.

A builder who excavated a site in Cong area years ago spoke ol caverns and tunnels in the karstic limestone. and as mentioned before the canal project had to be abandoned.

Toying with the slogan "Hold our wate" but it may be misinterpreted.