Irish Water to spend €51m on fixing leaks in households

Irish Water is to spend €51m over the next two years to fix 25,000 household leaks .

Wed, 01 Apr, 2015 - 01:00

Fiachra O’Cionnaith, Juno McEnroe and Joe Leogue

It said readings taken from 413,000 water meters in the last three months of 2014 indicated that 46m litres of water are lost to 30,000 suspected leaks every day — enough to meet Limerick City’s daily water demand.

Jerry Grant, head of asset management at Irish Water, said that if the number of detected leaks rises on a pro rata basis, Irish Water will discover between 60,000 and 70,000 leaks by the time all its meters have been installed.

The water meters include a leak alarm indicator which continuously monitors the amount of water used at night and issues a warning if night-time usage does not drop below a certain threshold.

Irish Water has an agreement with the regulator to spend €51m to fix at least 25,000 leaks and provide a once-off free repair for any leaks discovered between the external wall of the household and the stopcock outside the premises.

Mr Grant said Irish Water believes 60% of leaks occur in the home, and these will not be fixed by the utility. Irish Water will write to those believed to have a leak.

Yesterday it emerged that homeowners who sign up for charges will get their grant — a €100 annual discount for bills — paid directly into their bank accounts.

Proposals to Cabinet yesterday on the so-called “conservation grant” mean that customers will have to register a second time with authorities before receiving it. Customers must sign up with Irish Water by the end of June for charges.

But a second registration with the Department of Social Protection in August will be necessary to get the grant in September.

A dedicated website and call centre is being set up by the department to help people in matching their Irish Water identification number with their grant claim.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil claimed revelations that local authorities have provided over 100,000 of their tenants’ information is “just the tip of the iceberg” and said that the Department of Social Protection, Revenue Commissioners, the Private Residential Tenancy Board, and other groups are legally required to furnish the authority with details.

Seán Fleming, the party’s public expenditure and reform spokesperson, was speaking about an amendment the party wants to put in place that would remove the legal obligation on prescribed bodies, such as councils, to pass information on to Irish Water.

“It is not the function of local authorities to assist semi-state companies to deal with their customers,” Mr Fleming said. “The reason this is happening is because Government has rushed this.

“We are here now and the first bills are about to be issued. Irish Water confirmed this, bills will be going out in respect of 500,000 meters that were installed before January 1. Those meters will get accurate bills, but in that group two-thirds of those have actually registered.

“So only about 20% of the people of Ireland, about 300,000 houses or so, will get a correct bill. It has been a shambles, and I don’t support the way Irish Water are going about this.”