The gift of water - Frozen pipes teach us a stark lesson

AS any of the scores of thousands of people who lost their water supply to the big freeze — this December is the coldest on record — will confirm, life quickly gets very tedious and soon enough almost impossible without one of the great gifts of nature; one we may all take too much for granted.

Losing your water supply is almost like stepping back to another time, a time before we had limitless and, as we have deluded ourselves, free water. Without an abundant, reliable supply of water our flick-of-a-switch lifestyle is utterly unsustainable. Even basic household chores are weighed one against the other when water becomes scarce or unavailable. We have to prioritise in a way unknown in normal times.

This month’s weather-imposed shortage may, however, serve to show us how very important it is to ensure that we have a robust water-supply infrastructure, one that can meet domestic and business needs 365 days a year irrespective of weather conditions.

Just as many of us need to change our attitudes to water usage, local authorities need support to replace the pipe systems that, in some instances, lose up to 50% of the water they process through leaks. Even in these desperate times that support is essential and will, in the long term, be money well spent.

Spectacular improvements have been made in preventing water pollution, especially amongst the farming community. A sector that was once responsible for a hugely disproportionate amount of water pollution has, by and large, changed its ways. The huge fish kills that signalled the start of the silage-cutting season are, thankfully, almost a thing of the past.

Changing patterns in our climate suggest that we will have to prepare to store far greater quantities of water than we do right now. Scientists tell us we can expect warmer, drier summers matched with warmer, wetter winters. One of the consequences is that our annual rainfall will become more concentrated and, therefore, new storage facilities will be needed.

Whether new storage facilities would make the debate about piping water from the Shannon to Dublin redundant remains to be seen as there is already a huge imbalance — the west coast gets the majority of the rain but the east coast is home to the majority of the people.

Outgoing Environment Minister John Gormley has ambitious plans for water metering at all homes and businesses to facilitate the introduction of a range of water charges and, even if his timetable proves unrealistic, his successor will have to complete the project because, as our European bankers have pointed out, the days of free water are gone forever.

We must be disciplined about this though. Any revenue generated by water charges must be ring-fenced to enhance and extend water services rather than be diverted for day-to-day government spending. And most of all we must resist the temptation to even consider selling off our water supply structures to the private sector.

As so many of us have been reminded in recent days a utility like water, one essential to life and a modern society, is far too important to be entrusted to organisations focussed on profit rather than public service and the common good.