The ESB said it does not store water for electricity generation anywhere on the Shannon north of Portumna in Co Galway and is not responsible for recent floods.
As Westmeath County Council – aided by the Civil Defence, the Army and the Irish Red Cross – mounted a major operation to protect homes in Athlone, the ESB said a narrow channel at Mellick, south of Athlone, caused a bottleneck which was responsible for water building up around the Athlone area.
ESB communications manager Bernadine Maloney said the sluices controlled by the ESB along the Shannon waterway were all set to “flood conditions” at present to allow maximum drainage of water down the system. She said 800 cubic metres of water per second were entering Lough Derg south of Portumna, and the power plant at Ardnacrusha in Co Clare was taking 400 cubic metres per second, the maximum it could.
The ESB, which has statutory responsibility for water levels on the Shannon, was also diverting 375 cubic metres per second over the Parteen weir in Co Clare. The normal discharge of water over the Parteen weir would be between 10 and 15 cubic metres per second.
She repeated the firm had no interest in storing water north of Lough Derg for power generation, its only interest being in maintaining water in Lough Ree and the upper Shannon in summer to aid navigation.
Damien Delaney of the Athlone branch of the Shannon Protection Alliance said maintaining water levels in summer was essential for navigation. But he said suggestions in the media that proposals to extract water for the greater Dublin area may be a potential solution to Shannon flooding were unfounded: “It would have a minor effect.”
But Mr Delaney said the water entering Lough Derg in summer was just 15 cubic metres per second. Extraction of 4.7 cubic metres per second in summer could result in “dry stretches between Lough Derg and Athlone particularly at Mellick”, he said.
Every drop counts
Residents of Athlone who battled to keep water away from homes in recent days said "every millimetre counted". Flooding levels in affected streets in the town lowered yesterday as Westmeath County Council brought in plastic and sandbag barriers, and began a pumping operation of raw sewage which poured from drains in the Strand and Friary Lane.
Pumps and barriers were also in place on the town’s western side at Canal Banks, Deerpark, Parnell Square and The Parks. Deerpark resident Tadhg Carey said he had got just three hours’ sleep as he and his neighbours maintained pumps to keep water below the level of front doors. By lunchtime, the water had been pumped from the roadway, although a football field behind his house was deeply submerged.
Chairman of Athlone Subaqua Club Jim Campbell, a former Athlone town engineer, said the town had floods in 1928, 1954 and in the mid-1990s. But he said the flood in 2009 was the worst. He said success so far was a result of artificial sand bag and plastic sheeting barriers. However he said further rainfall could be catastrophic.
Westmeath County Council said levels are continuing to rise slowly and this is expected for the next five days. Further upriver, the Carrick on Shannon Chamber of Commerce building on the quays was closed due to flooding and the local tourist office was flooded.
