Get the water up to scratch before charging

It would appear everything in Irish Water is now hunky dory, other than the costing or not costing of water.

Until Irish Water can give a guarantee that every single consumer in the country is provided with the exact same water with no variation in quality, taste colour or content, they should not be legally entitled to start metering and charging.

Only a few days ago I had a glass of water at three locations in different parts of Dublin city and none of them neither tasted nor looked the same. I had a similar experience down the country where the water was muddy tasting and slightly shadowed. This is not good enough.

Some main water lines in Ireland could be a 100 years old and composed of corroded copper, lead or other material. The possibility of leaks will be inevitable.

It’s time local councils and their engineers in every electoral area take on the responsibility of replacing all old water networks and provide quality interconnected water reservoirs with foolproof treatment and filtering outlet systems.

This investment must be fully regulated, guaranteeing the same quality water to every home in the country. Only then would charges might be an easier matter to discuss.

James Gleeson,

Thurles

Co Tipperary