Fig. 1 - Changing water levels at the GSI monitoring station at Lough Funshinagh

Groundwater Flooding in County Roscommon.

Recent heavy rainfall, in combination with already high water levels, has caused water levels at Lough Funshinagh, Co Roscommon to rise towards unprecedented flood levels.

While Lough Funshinagh is designated as a turlough due to its characteristic fluctuating water levels, it is extremely slow to drain and seldomly empties completely. The characteristic slow response of Funshinagh means that, unlike other turloughs in Ireland, it does not get the opportunity to reset it’s flood pattern each year. This leaves it particularly vulnerable to weather events as their impacts can carry over from one year to the next.

Following extreme  flooding at Lough Funshinagh in 2016, Geological Survey Ireland commenced monitoring it as part of its turlough water level monitoring network. Data from our monitoring stations is available to view and download at our online web-portal: https://gwlevel.ie/

Geological Survey will continue to monitor Lough Funshinagh and wish to thank Roscommon County Council for their assistance in making our monitoring station accessible during current high water conditions. For more information on our groundwater flooding monitoring and mapping work, see here