Major Rally Against Lough Derg Pipeline Taking Place Today

0:00I've been walking on this for the last 20 years when, to as far as smoother that water was going to be taken from, from, as was Terry Glass at the time, 20 years ago, we explained to Irish water at the time, like, you know, the ecological risks, the major ecological risks, for this centre of area, you know, the inhabitants directly, bring these 80 EU directives that are going to be potentially breached by this abstraction. And we're very worried about lockdown, you know, because we've had many drought periods, for example, in summer 2018, with low flow conditions for 74 days. And even the ESB reported then, during that period, that they couldn't even let the 10 cubic meters per second downpour chain basin, because the levels in the in lockdown were drastically reduced. So the problem with the whole, the whole Ishka Erden proposal is that they haven't really taken into account the low, the low flow periods when they, you know, for example, when we have less water coming through the

1:00parking basin. And I mean, the flows at the moment, I suppose, if you look at the data from the ESB, there's been down to the years since 1932. There's been, there's been several, several days when there's been less than the 10, the statutory 10 cubic meters per second going down the parking basin. So if you're scared of not taking, I'm taking 3.8 meters cubed to 4.2 meters cubed per second, then you're talking, you know, on a good day of abstraction of between 38 and 42%. So the 2% average that they're talking about really makes no sense at all. And it is only 6 cubic meters per second going down parking basin, then you're up at 65% abstraction rate. So it's really the drought conditions. And I mean, the science has proved it, you know, the studies done by minut, the Icarus Institute, which says that the Midwest is going to get drier. And the east coast is going to get wetter because of the jet stream has moved and we've seen that in February ourselves that the east coast was going to wetter

2:01than in any, and in any period. So really it's the problem with the whole flawed proposal, this flawed proposal from each year, is that they haven't really taken into account the drought periods. For example, in so much 2020, and in August at 21, there was 47 separate dry periods. Like we have, this will really affect, you know, the algae blooming like dirt. You have less volume of water. So you're going to have more, you're going to have more utilization. You're going to have more and more blue green algae on the lake. So this is really, really a problem for us. And we certainly do not want to end. And sorry, I'm sorry, just from obviously, Ishgaren disagrees with this. They'll point to their own research that says it is sustainable. But I suppose it's focused on the protest itself. It's been organized by the Lackdurg Anglers. They're, they're all going to be out there in their boats. And they've significant concerns for what this impact will have on their profession and tourism.

3:01Well, absolutely. For example, I mean, you know, before, I mean, a hundred years ago, we didn't have the scientific knowledge. We had the scientific knowledge now. I mean, before having a crush, we had 440,000 salmon in Lackdurg. We had 124 salmon last year. 20 years ago, I begged Ishgaren, Irish water, to put in fish passes in at Ardenacroche and Parkteen Basin, similar to the North River. And look, and here we are 20 years later. They still haven't done it. Not the ESB have not done it. I mean, we are all salmon and the lamprey are getting mangled at Ardenacroche and they're banging their heads off the cement at Ardenacroche Basin. This is really a national catastrophe, what's happening, our wonderful fishing industry on Lackdurg. And it cannot be allowed to continue. And just finally, Phil, for anybody that's looking to get involved in the protest on Saturday, what do they have to do, where they have to go, and how can they get involved?

4:01Yeah, yeah, they encourage everyone, you know, whether you have a boat, a kayak, we will have probably 50 to 60 fishing boats. We will also have the Killalu sailing club supporting us. Lackdurg, we will have people on kayaks. We will have the search and rescue on the lake as well, you know, for issues. So people, maybe they could just maybe come to the Riverside Park in Valena, you know, stand on the river bank. This is a very, very serious, will have very serious consequences for the whole of the Lackdurg area. If the lake ends up having a very, very serious situation on all the villages of Lackdurg, Valena, Killalu, Scarif, Port Traumana, and Interlimic City, we will be decimated. This plan, this proposed plan by Ishke Erden is probably the most destructive ecologically and probably the most expensive. It's costing five times the children's hospital.

5:05It's actually, they have mentioned the figure of 10 billion. And really, I suppose Ishke Erden do not have any plan for the drought periods, which are coming more often. I mentioned this to them at the Founder Resource Center. And the Ishke Erden representative could not answer the questions. When we asked him eight times, would he turn off the pipe during drought periods? There's also a major problem.