Water shortages - We still have time to avert this crisis

DESPITE increasingly dire predictions about water shortages along the east coast, especially in Dublin, there seems to be insufficient public appetite to change our wasteful and unsustainable habits.

The crisis, we are told, will come to a head within the next decade and already a campaign to pump water from the Shannon to Dublin is gathering momentum.

Dublin County Council figures show that demand stands at 540 million litres a day (MLD) in the greater Dublin area while only 518MLD are being produced. This story, to varying degrees, is replicated right across the country.