Time to make sure we have a water network that's worth paying for

WHEN one considers that the public water distribution network in Ireland extends to 25,000km, one can almost understand how 41% of the country’s water supply is leaking out before it reaches the customer.

However, it becomes unacceptable when one considers that Germany’s drinking water network is 530,000km — and it has just 7% leakage.

It is even more unacceptable when, as the newly formed company Irish Water says itself, “clean water is expensive to both produce and manage. There is a complex process involved in turning raw water into clean drinking water, and treating wastewater so that it can be reintroduced back into our environment.”