Bradán Beo Teoranta, a licensed fish farm operator, got permission to take a maximum of 4,680 cubic metres of freshwater weekly from the privately owned non-tidal inland lake for up to 22 weeks annually from mid-May to September, to be pumped over four hours daily for a maximum of four days per week.

The freshwater was intended to bathe diseased salmon in four licensed sites operated by the company in Kilkieran Bay to rid them of sea lice and amoebic gill disease.