How long will a river run through it?

Donal Hickey says the future of the Shannon is uncertain

THE scene is still vivid in memory. A schoolboy stands by a map on the back wall of the classroom, with a pointed stick in his right hand following the path of the Shannon as it meanders lazily through the centre of Ireland.

Occasionally, the stick comes to rest on towns along the route of the mighty river, including Carrick-on-Shannon, Athlone and Killaloe, before a lengthy stop in Limerick when stories of a famous treaty and Patrick Sarsfield are told.

The same schoolboy still remembers being told by the master that our longest river rises in the Cuilcagh Mountains, in Co Cavan, and flows through a host of lakes before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean in that wind-blown, watery gap between Co Kerry and Co Clare.

It has followed the same path since the end of the last Ice Age, playing an important role in Ireland’s history, ‘witnessing’ Viking raids on monasteries, and providing a home for endangered species.

The schoolboy had not heard of pollution, for, in those days, in the 1960s, the water in rivers and lakes in Ireland was still pristine.

Now, the future of Shannon is not guaranteed, even though it has many protected areas of conservation. Like every other river and lake, the Shannon is a victim of pollution from numerous sources, as well as from invasive species and land reclamation.

A proposal by Dublin City Council to take 350m litres of water per day from the Shannon system is meeting with opposition: the Shannon Protection Alliance marched on the Dáil protesting against the proposal.

The fear is that a significant drop in water levels in the river’s catchment area could affect tourism, leisure activities, angling and farming and might destroy the river’s fragile ecology.

“The survival of the Shannon as we know it is not guaranteed,” warns the latest issue of Heritage Outlook, published by the Heritage Council. Pressures on this fragile environment are evidenced by a decline in water quality and fish stocks, diminishing numbers of corncrakes and the spread of alien species, such as the zebra mussel and some aquatic plants.

Striking a balance between competing interests is the key to finding a solution, and this calls for detailed knowledge of the many forces at play. The fact that there are more than 30 bodies with responsibilities for management of the Shannon makes it difficult to co-ordinate action.

Waterway Corridor Studies are an important step towards co-ordinated action along the Shannon, according to the Heritage Council.

A waterway corridor is much wider than the actual water in the river. It takes in the land around the river, towns and villages, and activities such as farming, tourism and industry.

Like many another idea, it has been developed in America and also in the UK.

The Heritage Council says: “The aim is to manage a waterway in an integrated way, linking the water with economic and social activities which take place in its vicinity, as well as people and the heritage through which it passes.

“A corridor study examines all these aspects, consults with people locally and nationally, and then draws up a series of recommended actions intended to protect the unique character of the corridor.” Since 2002, the council has carried out five studies covering the entire Shannon. A seminar on the Shannon studies was held in Athlone last Thursday (November 27), to give a wider airing to their findings.

As well as that, the Shannon is also included in the River Basin District (RBD) scheme, along with seven other regions, in line with the EU Water Framework Directive. The idea is to come up with management plans for each district.

Nobody doubts the need for action on the various management programmes that are being drawn up for what is the largest undrained river in Europe.

Of course, the Shannon also has the country’s biggest estuary, which is home to what is believed to be the most extensive collection of wintering wildfowl and waders in Ireland.

Its importance as a site for birds is underlined by the fact that it has been designated a Special Protection Area (SPA) under the EU Birds Directive. Dunlin, black-tailed godwit and the redshank are among the species that come to the area.

That’s not forgetting the resident population of bottle-nosed dolphins, numbering more than 50, in the estuary. The dolphins have become an attraction in their own right and are the subject of ongoing studies.

The Shannon RBD team is working to bring all water in the river to ‘good quality’ status by 2015, as required by the EU directive. The team’s report is expected to be available this month and it will outline the current state of water in the Shannon system.