Water shortages expected but no charges planned

ENVIRONMENT Minister John Gormley said the Government does not plan to start charging households for water, but admitted the country will face water shortages in the future.

Mr Gormley was speaking after a leading expert of climate change said such charges are inevitable because water will have to be brought from the north and west to more heavily populated areas such as Dublin and Cork.

Professor John Sweeney, head of the Irish Climate Analysis and Research Unit at NUI Maynooth, said the cost of getting the water to where it is needed means it is just a matter of time before charges are introduced.

“It would seem inevitable that it would be extended in the years ahead,” he said.

Professor Sweeney also said that putting a price on water was as important as introducing carbon taxes.

Dublin will require an additional 350 million litres of water a day by 2015 and does not have the capacity to meet this demand.

Dublin City Council has commissioned consultants to examine the options and a report is expected early next year.

There are no water charges for domestic users in Ireland because the Government negotiated a derogation from the EU water framework directive.

Mr Gormley said there are no plans to change this policy. “Domestic water charges don’t arise. We do charge for water elsewhere but there is an onus on the individual now to conserve water because, as unlikely as it seems during this wet summer, we are going to experience water shortages in the future.”

While opposition parties oppose water charges, Fine Gael is considering the matter as part of a wider policy document on local Government reform.