Paying for water services: Pollution, drought, and climate issues the world over

Irish Water is not the only water utility operating in a setting made complex by conflicting political and financial needs.

Climate change and prolonged drought are straining resources in many countries while others struggle with pollution, boundary disputes and, our old friend, chronic underinvestment.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a collection of 35 of the world’s wealthy countries including Ireland, summed it up nicely, if worryingly, in a 2009 report on strategic financial planning for water supply and sanitation.