Water reserves: A new urgency

Irish Water warns it has been forced, by the ongoing drought, to use strategic water reserves to maintain supply to Cork City and suburbs — this suggests a Rubicon has been passed.

That this warning has been issued in relation to a city built on an estuary must sound the loudest alarm bells. Whether that warning provokes a realistic response, sadly, remains to be seen.

Water provision, for reasons with little enough to do with water, is one of the incendiary issues of recent years. Poor planning, appalling communication, and a toxic opportunism came together to show us and our political system at our worst. It is hard to think of a public project so poorly advanced and so easily undermined.

The protest around water charges has fallen silent but the need to radically upgrade all of our water infrastructure remains. The Irish Water warning brings a new urgency to that reality. Government will not easily re-engage with the issue as today’s incumbents will have retired before our water difficulties become a crisis. Once again, we seem to be our own worst enemies.