Surface spring water was used until the late 1970s for drinking in some surrounding areas. The regional bedrock aquifers for the purposes of drinking water are regarded as locally important and moderately productive, used where there was no water main connection. In the limestone areas to the north, the aquifers are regionally important. The River Shannow, which runs through Kilflynn, emanates from the hills south-west of the N69 from Tooreen to Stacks Mountain townlands and is a tributary of the River Brick, which in turn joins the River Feale, entering the Atlantic south of Ballybunion. Up until the 1980s, there were eels and fish such as brown trout to be found in the river up at least as far as the Waterfall (where the N69 crosses), with birdlife such as various types of finch, dippers and what are locally called 'cranes' (grey herons, which were caught and eaten historically). Since then, the river life has been affected by pollution.