Dublin needs new supply source, warns Irish Water

Dublin and the surrounding region will need enough extra water to fill 330 Olympic-sized swimming pools every day on top of its existing supply to meet demand by 2050, Irish Water has warned.

The company yesterday published the findings of its Need Report for the proposed Eastern and Midlands Region Water Supply Project, which found that the expected demand for water in Dublin alone will increase by more than 50% in the next 35 years.

The report states that water-conservation meas-ures and repairs to the leakages across the water supply will not be enough to meet future requirements, and that failure to address the problem “carries a very high risk of increasing outage disruptions, shortages, and ultimately water rationing”.

The report estimates that water outages in Dublin cost the economy €78m a day, and that based on the demographic, economic, and water demand projections, there is a need for a new water supply source.

“Irish Water, in looking at the water requirements from a new source, takes a national perspective on its scale, on the time profile of the requirement, and on the potential beneficial contribution of a new source to the resilience of the collective sources serving the eastern and Midlands areas of Ireland,” the report states.

“This is an opportunity to address the quality and reliability of water supplies and to equalise the access of communities in the Midlands and eastern areas to any opportunity dependent upon availability of adequate water supplies. It is therefore a nationally strategic project.”

Irish Water says that it intends to submit plans for meeting the water supply needs of the region to An Bord Pleanála for planning approval in 2017, and the report examines the possibility of a ‘benefiting corridor’ which would serve the populations around a transfer pipeline from a new source, such as the Shannon, to Dublin.

Dublin Chamber has expressed its concern that the report underestimates the future demand for water.

“The new report estimates that the eastern and Midlands region will need around 800m litres of water by 2050. The previous 2010 report said we’d need the same amount by 2031,” said Aebhric McGibney, director of public and international affairs at Dublin Chamber.

“Given the track record of underestimating population growth in the Dublin region, it is essential that potential upside is factored in to any plan for a new source,” he said.

“Every day, about 98% of our total capacity is used up, while most European capitals use about 80%. This issue has been apparent for years, and yet nothing has been done. In 2013, water shortages crippled the city, affecting hotels, restaurants, businesses, and consumers. These incidents harm our competitiveness and international reputation and they are only going to get more frequent as Dublin grows — unless action is taken now.”

Irish Water says it will undertake an eight-week consultation process through a combination of stakeholder meetings and an invitation for all interested parties to make written contributions towards the utility’s plans for the future.

The report forecasts that the population in the water supply area serving Dublin will rise from 1.52m people, as per Census 2011, to between 2.02m and 2.15m by 2050.