Protecting water resources: A lot of urgent work to be done

Residents in Skerries are without water because of a heatwave increase in demand and because there is, according to Irish Water, “a lot of horticulture in the area”.

Homes are, as we prepare to celebrate a century of independence and pipe water from the Shannon to The Pale, dry.

This is just one example of what happens when infrastructure maintenance is long-fingered or ignored; or what happens when the impact of industry — in this case, horticulture — is ignored.

A similar issue is playing out in Co Cork, where a €10m scheme to end the discharge of sewage into Courtmacsherry Bay is expected to be completed within 18 months.

The bay hosts extensive algae blooms at certain times of the year, a manmade situation exacerbated by farm effluent.

The campaign to process wastewater began almost two decades ago.

Ironically, just as provision is made to process wastewater from homes, the targets set by the dangerously unsustainable Food Harvest 2025, and the inevitable increase in farm effluent, could well offset that advance.

Courtmacsherry is just one of many locations where raw sewage is discharged. It is possible to understand why this is the case — but it is impossible to accept that it can continue.

The rejection of water charges is a limiting factor in the vital, urgent project to protect and restore damaged waterways.

The economy has recovered, so it might just be possible to hope that we have recovered our sanity on this issue, too.