Is charging us for rain the way forward?

FOR a country that gets so much rain, it would be easy to believe we’ll never run short of water. Not so, however. In fact, we’re no better off in this regard than many other parts of the world.

While we’re always complaining about the rain and we regularly experience flooding, we haven’t yet managed to trap all the water that falls — something that would certainly come in handy at times of shortages, as seen during the dry spell last summer.

In some areas of the country, more than 50% of piped water is wasted, mainly through leaks in old mains and taps left running. Also, demand for water is increasing all the time, fuelled by the growing population and the economic boom.