Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 112: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the extent to which plans have been evaluated or advanced for the provision of enhanced domestic water supply for the greater Dublin area with particular reference to the sourcing and storage of any such supplies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24363/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The Greater Dublin Water Supply Area consists of Dublin City, Fingal, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and South Dublin, significant areas in East and West Wicklow (including Bray), mid and north Kildare and south-eastern areas of Meath. The major source for the Dublin region water supply is the Liffey (Ballymore Eustace and Leixlip), with other sources being the Vartry (Roundwood) and Dodder (Bohernabreena).

A number of schemes under my Department's Water Services Investment Programme have been approved to increase the water supply to the area. These include a major leak reduction programme, a large-scale mains rehabilitation programme, a further expansion at the Ballymore Eustace treatment plant and associated works, new treatment plant for water abstracted from the Barrow and an expansion of the Leixlip works. However, there is limited potential to abstract additional water from existing sources and it is necessary to consider new options for potential long-term sources to service growth in demand in the Greater Dublin Area. Therefore, my Department provided funding to Dublin City Council to fund a Dublin Water (Long Term Sources) Development Study. This 2006 Study concluded that there were only two feasible approaches which could technically meet the capacity requirements in the medium and long term - abstraction from the Shannon and desalination.

Consultants working for Dublin City Council have completed the Preliminary Report (addressing the Shannon Source and desalination options), which outlines the options examined for source development, the type of treatment to be provided and how the water should be delivered/distributed, and makes recommendations on the preferred option. This report, which has been adopted by the City Council, recommends the abstraction of raw water from Lough Derg (River Shannon) and pumping the abstracted water through a new pipeline to a proposed storage reservoir covering approximately 1,400 acres (567 hectares) at the Garryhinch cut-away bog (near Portarlington, Co. Laois), forming part of a proposed midlands water based eco-park. The water will be treated to drinking water standards at this location and the treated water transported in a series of pipelines to the Dublin Region Water Supply Area with provision for local supplies.

The Report and an Environmental Statement (prepared in accordance with the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Regulations, 2004) is available for public information from 1 September 2011 to 1 November 2011 at a number of local authority offices. The next step for this project will include the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement as part of the application for approval to An Bord Pleanála under the Strategic Infrastructure Act and the development of a procurement strategy. My Department continues to provide funding for this planning phase.