Hands off our water, please

Global warming or no global warming, there is no scarcity of water in this country.

The sole purpose of introducing water charges and water meters has nothing to do with the availability of water but, it would seem, is purely a revenue collection exercise. We already know with the setting up of Irish Water that 400 jobs alone are proposed for a call centre to deal with queries on water metering, etc. This cost, together with the cost of the installation of meters, tiers of management and staff in a new bureaucratic organisation will ensure the capital cost will far exceed what current estimates are.

If all this comes to pass, we are led to believe usage allowances will be allocated per person. Presumably this would be based on the current average quantity that a person uses. But there is a big capital outlay and a big bureaucratic system that has to be fed, so these allowances will be cut fairly tight. When the people start to wash and shower less frequently, share bathwater, reduce toilet flushing, etc then there will be a drop in consumption. Revenue will now be down so charges will increase (a bit like health insurance) but there will be no going back.