Countdown

Dear fellow Anthology poets in Ireland and elsewhere,

Perhaps you saw my multiple chemical sensitivity blog, "Distilled Clear" [see note below]* within the last two weeks.  And perhaps some of you clicked over to this blog.  

Before you forget that you ever saw either blog, I'd like to say something:

Hello!

I would have met you in person last year at the Whitehouse Pub on July 26th for the launch of Anthology for a River, but I was at the dentist.  In the USA.

At 8:30 p.m. your time, my mouth was filled with a plastic mold, hardening.  (The indignity of it all . . . )

Reduced to muteness under the clinical fluorescent lights, I had to face facts:  This was not a prime scenario for a person hoping to read her poem in a warmly-lit pub in Ireland.  Things just weren't going according to plan.  As I counted down the minutes and seconds to free airspace, I contemplated the words, "poetic justice."  Was this sad or was this funny?

The very night I could have been reading my poem aloud in Europe, I'm marooned in a dentist's chair with my mouth completely jammed up . . . gesticulating toward the clock and the window screen (reassurance of air, air), and "miming" for a pad on which to write things down -- as in, "How many more minutes to go?"

There was no food served under the fluorescents, the comedy was me, and my "grog" was water from the dental tap.  I did, however, manage to enjoy some "craic" with the dental assistant.

I can only conclude that Heaven does, indeed, have a sense of humor:  This was where -- and how -- Providence saw fit to place me on the evening of July 26th, 2012.

But here I am, today, a survivor of the daunting dental mold, constructing this fledgling blog -- 

And hoping, still, to join you in efforts to save this mightily poetic and historical river.

Ideas are the sparks which can change the course of things . . .

I welcome your ideas!  

Regards,

C. M.

*A temporary re-titling of my blog, Daisies and Vinegar 2011.

Humor - A spoof on my actual, real-time visit to my dentist on the eve of July 26, 2012.  I really would have loved to meet all of you.
          ~ Carolyn (E.) Marra, May 7, 2015

In the Millions: Wasted Litres, Wasted Euros

Hello, Friends,

Let's say a man owns a one-story house.

The basement has flooded several times since he's moved in, the base of the house is rotting and moldy around the periphery, and the foundation is beginning to crumble.

But this man wants his house to be able to hold more people, and to look good.  If he builds an addition -- a second story -- to his house, this will rapidly spruce up the appearance.  And he'll get a couple of years of really good use of that second floor.

In the meantime, the basement will continue to flood in heavy rains, the rot and mold will continue to creep around -- and up -- the periphery, and the foundation will crumble at an accelerated rate beneath the added weight of the second floor.

But the owner will be able to rent out the top floor, obtain some much-needed funds, and the tenants up above won't be any the wiser as to the full spectrum of disintegration underway on the lower level.

Granted, the man might take his quick cash and bolt within a year or two, before the house really begins to fall apart.

But let's say he couldn't "bolt."  Let's say circumstance kept him rooted in place, and he had to endure the resultant disintegration of his own abode.

He would then begin to wish that he'd spent his money much more wisely -- on repairs to the foundation and the rotting periphery.  The second floor will avail him nothing -- indeed, it could even become a financial liability -- if the foundation is unsustainable and mold overruns the house.

Furthermore, if any of the man's tenants had become ill from the presence of the mold in the house, he'd really be in trouble.

I compare this ruinous and dysfunctional "house-expansion" scenario to the potentially ruinous and dysfunctional "water-expansion" scenario which could be engendered by large-scale water abstraction from Ireland's River Shannon.

Dublin City, whose own water-supply system already has leaks up to 30%, would not be fixing these leaks before stretching a new pipeline into the Shannon.  This means that the Dublin water loss would continue during the new venture, but now also wasting water from the Shannon.

This is not a money-saving plan, to say the least.  If water is not conserved, then money, in the long run, will prove to have been poorly spent and the value of the venture will decrease exponentially, both in cash and in physical results.

Dublin will get water quickly from the River Shannon, and the Shannon's ecological base will have been irrevocably disturbed.  Her waters will become more and more depleted, not only due to "people usage" but now also due to wastage in a city system that no one could be bothered to fix.

In this way, the losses will multiply.  If algae blooms exert undue influence due to decreased water levels in the Shannon, people nearby could develop cancer.

At this point, I wish to insert a thought-provoking summation of the risks of large-scale water abstraction from the River Shannon, contrasted with the various means of water conservation which could alternatively supply Dublin City with additional water.  This summation was written in 2012 by Gerry Siney of the River Shannon Protection Alliance:

WASTE NOT, WANT NOT:

Should Dublin City Council be allowed to plunder the 

River Shannon?

by Gerry Siney
 

Dublin City Council (DCC) in anticipation of growing water requirements of the greater Dublin area (GDA) are proposing to source its future supply from the river Shannon for piping to Dublin for domestic, commercial, and industrial consumption.  The River Shannon Protection Alliance (RSPA) www.shannonprotectionalliance.ie  with branches in Athlone, Tipperary (Dromineer), and Limerick is the lead organisation opposing this needless and high risk scheme.

The DCC plan proposes to abstract water at a rate of upwards of 500 million litres of water per day (MLD).  This of course is but the thin edge of the wedge, and the realist will be in no doubt that this level of extraction will increase exponentially year on year.  It will be a case of bit more next year and the year after, and the year after that again.  In the words of environmental scientist, Jack O’Sullivan, “International experience shows that large-scale abstraction from river systems worldwide has generally been followed by ecologically and socially destructive and irreversible consequences.”

The current rate of leakage of the Dublin supply system is 30%, which means of course that fully one-third of Shannon water would be wasted, and there is no real program in place to fix these leaks.  We are told that there is no money available, but oddly they are able to find half a billion Euros to construct a pipeline.  Even if the proposal were to gain approval, they are content to waste some 160 million litres of supply and consumer side water per day.  The plan proposes at some undefined date in the future to reduce leakage to 20%, hence the 160 MLD leakage in perpetuity, yet a reduction to 15% would yield savings in excess of 100 MLD.  Some cities in Europe have leakage down to 5% and 6%, and cities in Japan have achieved a rate of 3%.

If these proposals are allowed to proceed, yes DCC will be able to continue to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) for Dublin, and continue its runaway expansion of satellite towns and commuter belts.  The RSPA does not wish to place limits on the promotion of the capital’s legitimate interests, however under Shannon abstraction proposals the regions will pay a high and unsustainable cost economically and socially, and the Shannon and its tributaries will suffer ecologically and environmentally.

 

Economically, the regions along the length of the river, from the Shannon Pot to the Shannon Estuary (18 local authorities), and indeed the hinterland communities, depend on a healthy water course for their very livelihoods and standard of living.  Historically, people and organisations have invested time, effort and financial resources developing tourism, hospitality facilities, shipping, social, recreational, and educational  enterprises, and any significant drop in the levels and flow of the river could put these businesses and industries at risk of non-viability.  No one has a right to take this away from those who worked hard to put it in place, merely at the stroke of a pen.

The ecosystem of the Shannon is fragile one, supporting countless aquatic and non-aquatic forms of life, and contains a significant number of vulnerable and important Natural Heritage Areas (NHAs), Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), and Special  Protection Areas (SPAs) for wildlife, and these designated areas and their unique flora and fauna would be at risk from excessive abstraction of water.  These considerations have been given scant regard in DCC’s proposal.

The Greater Dublin Area (GDA) is not at risk of running short of water.  There is no shortage now, and there needn’t be in the future.  There is on the other hand a problem of profligate wastage, lack of conservation and demand reduction measures, and a lack of emphasis on recycling and use of grey water usage measures. These alone would be enough to result in an immediate savings in excess of 100-150 MLD on a permanent basis.  If a new source of supply were really needed, DCC should go back to the drawing board and re-examine (properly this time) the very ample availability of untapped water which exists closer to home. Potentially large groundwater resources in Counties Fingal, Meath and Kildare are estimated to sustainably yield over 100 MLD of high quality water.  Desalination (on Dublin’s doorstep) should also be re-visited. New technology e.g. Reverse Osmosis is making this process more and more economically affordable.

A combination of these practical options if seriously implemented would provide the GDA with a surplus of water for many years to come.  Placing pipes into the Shannon is the soft option for the DCC; which would allow it to pump and leak and waste away in a continuance of grossly out-of-date water use practices.  DCC’s proposal in its current form represents Victorian Era Technology for a 21^st Century Problem.

**********************************************

May Mr. Siney's words be given widespread and careful consideration.

Thank you, friends, for giving your attention to the plight of the River Shannon.

Wishing you health --

Cheers!

~ Daisies [Carolyn]

Murmuration (!) on Lough Derg (on Ireland's River Shannon)

Hello, Friends,

What's a "murmuration"?  If you don't know, don't feel bad.  I didn't know, either!  But now that I've seen one, I won't be forgetting it!

A "murmuration" is a flocking of starlings.  But don't let me ruin the surprise for you:  Just watch this spectacular footage, below, filmed on Lough Derg,* a lake of the River Shannon:

As they swooped and dipped and merged, the intersecting shapes of the starling formations, themselves, sometimes looked like the wing-spreading figures of large birds!

This is all part of the natural wonder of Ireland's River Shannon and her lakes, endangered national treasure and environmental mainstay of much of the country's wildlife, human life, cultural heritage, and economic livelihood.

Of particular interest to chemically sensitive individuals is the fact that Ireland led the world with its nationwide ban (2004) on smoking in workplaces and, as early as 1988, had already outlawed smoking in many public places.

What you've beheld in this video, above, is part and parcel of what Ireland's River Shannon Protection Alliance is trying desperately to save from Dublin's potentially tragic interference.  Please see the links on the upper sidebar (top right) to help promote this environmentally worthy cause of saving the River Shannon.

I hope you've enjoyed the video!

Thank you for watching, and . . .

Cheers!

~ Carolyn

*FOOTNOTE August 2014:  This video was brought to my attention by Mr. Gerry Siney.  Many thanks for the inspiration!