Water woes - Attitudes to conservation must change

WITH global reserves of oil and other crucial natural resources dwindling at a frightening pace, Ireland is probably perceived as having an abundance of perhaps the most vital resource of all — water.

The popular image of this country is of a green land inundated by rain and up to our tonsils in water. Perhaps this picture explains why, as is revealed in today’s Irish Examiner investigative report, we are wasting water supplies up and down the country at a rate that is nothing short of mind-boggling.

Somewhere between local authority treatment works and the tap, hundreds of millions of litres of water are literally disappearing every day. The simple explanation for this alarming scenario is that the pipes are leaking like a sieve and that an outdated countrywide network is in dire need of a big overhaul. Finding a solution to this problem is essential but it will be a costly undertaking. Like it or not, it will hit all of us where it hurts most — in our pockets.