Water security - Deferring charges is dangerous

THERE is a growing recognition that the age of cheap, or in our case free, domestic water is coming to an end.

Our water infrastructure leaks like a sieve and because of this we waste far too much of this precious, finite resource. We — home owners, industry, forestry, farmers and local authorities — are polluting water sources at an alarming, suicidal rate. Because we imagine water is free we use it with abandon and without wondering if our habits are in any way sustainable. Our position, and our government’s, is delusional and increasingly isolated. Unless we start to fund a secure, modern water system we are setting ourselves up for a fall.

European environment commissioner Stavros Dimas told a conference in Zaragoza last week that Europe is wasting too much water. And, in an effort to counter this flagrance, he insisted that the guiding principle has to be: the user pays.