Our water has huge potential, so treasure it

GOOGLE last week cited the Irish climate when announcing a new data storage facility for Ireland. Microsoft and others have done the same.

That climate, you’ll have noticed, also produced vast amounts of rain over the past week. That may not brighten your day but it certainly underpins a natural resource that we exploit too little.

Water is a resource that Irish people are used to having for free. Much like the Emiratis in Abu Dhabi pay almost nothing for the oil bubbling up under their feet, we see water as something that is abundant and taken for granted. This is a misplaced mindset.