Public must get value for money - Irish Water

CREDULITY is stretched to the limit by the inordinate length of time it will take beleaguered Irish Water to put the country’s banjaxed water system into something approaching working order. 

While we are told, for instance, that almost half the 1.6 billion litres of water treated every day by local authorities leaks into the ground before a drop reaches a tap, it will take another six years before 11% of that whopping loss is reduced under the company’s draft plan which is now open to public debate.

Incredibly, by 2040, one-fifth of this crucial resource will still be leaking. That amounts, more or less, to a staggering daily loss of 320,000,000 litres from the nation’s supply.

To be fair to Irish Water, it has to be said that by their nature even the most established water systems leak. According to expert opinion, world best practice puts the optimum savings usually achieved by stopping leaks at between 10% and 15%. This suggests the 2040 target is a bit optimistic.

Since its inception, the company has lurched from crisis to crisis. Its bonus culture has been roundly criticised in these columns and condemned by politicians of all hues. It got such a battering from anti-water charge campaigners that the installation of meters was suspended, the charges capped and household grants doled out in a bid to assuage growing opposition to the scheme.

The political reaction is laced with irony because successive government sat on their collective hands while the pipes crumbled beneath them. TDs from five governing parties, including the now defunct PDs, the Greens, Fianna Fáil, Labour and Fine Gael, did precious little to improve a leaking system where lead pipes also pose a health hazard.

Making Irish Water’s uphill task even more daunting, only three in five waste treatment plants in Ireland comply with EU standards. That appalling state of affairs results in 148 potentially dangerous incidents of local pollution every year. With storms becoming more intense with climate change, people who live on flood plains are particularly vulnerable and will continue to face health hazards until all treatment plants are fully compliant in 25 years.

While the company’s target is to reduce the number of incidents to 20 a year, the threat of ongoing pollution is a matter of grave concern. It is also worrying that ‘boil water notices’ will still be in vogue in parts of the country until the local pollution problems are eliminated by 2021.

A properly functioning water system is as important for domestic customers for washing, heating or boiling an egg as it is for indusial users, from heavy industry to pharma and computer plants employing thousands of people.

Putting Irish Water’s plans into operation will cost a minimum of €600m a year. Given its lacklustre performance so far, it is imperative to subject it to scrutiny to ensure the country gets value for money. Though five water charge protesters were jailed for contempt yesterday, people have a right to protest. Like it or not, water has to be paid for. A referendum is essential to copper-fasten ownership of the public water system in the hands of the Irish people.