Opposition remains strong in Clare and the MidWest to Irish Water's plans to shore up supply for the East and Midlands.
The water company plans to take more than 300 million litres of water a day from the River Shannon, with the water being extracted from the Parteen Basin rather than Lough Derg.
This project will cost between 700 and 900 million euro.
Irish Water wants it completed within five years, aims to provide a new water source for Clare, as well as Dublin and other counties in the East and midlands.
A 165 kilometre pipeline would be built from a reservoir on the Tipperary side of the Basin, to the south of Lough Derg, though no water would be extracted from the lake itself – this had been the focus of intense opposition in the local area.
One of those opponents, Whitegate FG Councillor Pat Burke says the plan will have absolutely no benefit for Co. Clare.
Irish Water says the preferred option has been chosen as it will have the least environmental impact of the four it had considered.
Two of those would have seen water taken from the lake, and the other was desalination.
The utility insists the project won't impact on Lough Derg but Declan Collison of the Shannon Protection Alliance isn't convinced.
Planning permission will be sought from An Bord Pleanala in 2017, and if approved the scheme is expected to be operational by 2022.
A ten week period of public consultation runs up until February 4th.
