A group set up to protect the River Shannon has said it will "strongly oppose" any move to divert water from the river to Dublin to cater for anticipated shortages in the city.

Irish Water, which is considering the proposal, previously made by Dublin City Council, published a report on March 10 which sets out the pressing need for a new water supply source for the Eastern and Midlands region of the country.

The report identifies that projected demand for water in Dublin alone is expected to increase by over 50% by 2050.

The report states this "is well beyond the capacity of the existing sources which serve the region".

The River Shannon Protection Alliance (RSPA) has said in a statement that it "wishes to make it clear that any such proposal will face the strongest opposition to such needless, high risk, and outmoded infrastructural planning".

The group said the proposal to diver the water to Dublin would extract water at a rate of hundreds of millions of litres per day.

"There can be no doubt that rates of abstraction will increase exponentially year on year, with disastrous consequences economically, environmentally, and socially for all of the communities along the full length of the Shannon," the RSPA said.

"Dublin does not now have a shortage of water, and it need not do so in the future. Current supplies are more than adequate for current demand, however Dublin City Council (DCC) has been throwing half of it away through years of leak ridden supply pipes and creaking treatment facilities, all of which have suffered from decades of neglect and under investment."

The group added: "Injecting Shannon water into such a system would result in wastage of most of this new supply, while delivering only marginal improvement.

"On the other hand, reducing leakage rates to international standards would double existing supplies."

Any abstraction of water from the Shannon to Dublin would require €500m and the construction of a 160km pipeline.

The RSPA said a range of other supply options exist on Dublin’s doorstep waiting to be tapped.

"An estimated 100 million litres per day of high quality ground water is available sustainably from the Fingal/Meath/Kildare aquifer. Additional reservoirs can be built closer to Dublin," the group added.

Irish Water is currently calling for submissions regarding the proposal.

It has also sought tenders for a "survey specialist" to undertake a water quality survey of Lough Derg and the Parteen Basin from where the supply will be sourced.

The project would see 350 million litres of water a day been pumped from the River Shannon to serve Dublin's drinking water needs for the next 70 years.

"We call on all public representatives to consider their constituencies, and also on members of the public, to submit their views on this critical issue," the RSPA said.