Irish Examiner view: Clean water is a right, but it is not free

The proposed introduction of water charges politicised ordinary people in a way that no other issue has done. It would be a very brave Government that attempts to rethink water charges. Picture: Nigel Bowles/Alamy

It is not entirely fair to quote the phrase “lies, damned lies and statistics” when considering the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) latest report on water quality, but its findings show that numbers can often mislead.

By any standard, the watchdog’s conclusion that 99.7% of water samples were compliant with bacterial and chemical limits is excellent news. For the most part, then, the public can be confident that the quality of drinking water in their homes remains “very high”.

The issue, however, is the other .3%. That might not sound like a large number, but it represents nearly 500,000 people who are relying on “at-risk” water supplies. And worse, that number is increasing. It rose by some 100,000 since 2021.

What that means in everyday life is that, last year, 191,000 people faced water restrictions, or were obliged to boil the water that came from their taps. The top-of-the-class sample results also mask the EPA’s serious concern at the lack of progress in removing lead piping from the network.

There has been significant progress too, which must be acknowledged. The EPA praised the national water utility for delivering new infrastructure, including the Lee Road plant in Cork which delivers drinking water to more than 87,000 people.

Another figure that jumps out from the report is how much drinking water costs. Last year, Uisce Éireann’s capital expenditure on critical water and wastewater infrastructure exceeded €1bn. It’s money well spent as it puts us on a par with the best public water supplies in the world.

Unlike the rest of the world, though, Ireland is one of the few developed countries where householders do not pay directly for water. There are reasons for that. The proposed introduction of water charges politicised ordinary people in a way that no other issue has done. It would be a very brave Government that attempts to rethink water charges.

As anti-water-charge campaigners said at the time, clean drinking water is a right. It certainly is, but it is also a very costly one. And while many argue we pay for it already through our taxes that does not excuse our ambivalent attitude towards it.

It would be interesting to survey householders to see how many of them monitor the use of water in their homes. We might also conduct a survey on attitudes to water outside the home; our watercourses continue to be polluted with unacceptably high levels of nitrogen and phosphorous.

As environmental commentator John Gibbons pointed out in this publication, farm bodies are increasingly hostile to the scientific evidence proving that their activities have a negative impact on rivers and lakes.

Earlier in the summer, the EPA called on the agriculture sector and Uisce Éireann to take urgent action to reduce the losses of nutrients to the environment. The response from some farming representatives has been inflammatory and reactionary. There have been references to the “ethnic cleansing of the farming community”, “hippy-dippy tree huggers” and a vicious “anti-farming” element.

There is no denying the challenges faced by the agriculture sector as a climate emergency forces difficult changes upon it. We need to listen to that sector’s concerns, but we must also challenge the kind of unfounded guff that whips up an unhelpful frenzy. Uisce Éireann might have work to do, but so do we, as consumers, farmers, and foresters.

Don't let tensions dim celebrations 

One could argue that women’s soccer has truly arrived. With tension in the camp, a Saipan-style public row and a media slavering for the scoop, it is beginning to look an awful lot like the men’s game.

Manager Vera Pauw’s future is also uncertain. Her contract is due to expire, but the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has yet to announce if a new deal is on the table. There are also lingering accusations that she body-shamed players in the US; allegations she strenuously denies.

All of it has cast a dark shadow as the girls in green make their way home today. The coverage has focused on the strain between coach Pauw and Arsenal star Katie McCabe whose second-half call for “fresh legs” in the scoreless draw against Nigeria was ignored.

Pauw later robustly asserted her authority as coach, while the team captain posted a zipped-lip emoji. It was an unedifying public spat and one with unfortunate echoes of the 2002 World Cup, when captain Roy Keane left the squad to return home after a row with manager Mick McCarthy.

At least the women’s team reached a natural end to an exceptional journey that united fans here and in Australia.

Whatever happens next, the fact remains that our national women’s team qualified for a World Cup final for the very first time in history. And they did us proud on an international stage. That is what the crowds will be celebrating at the planned homecoming event on O’Connell Street in Dublin tomorrow.

Let’s not allow the tension dim the celebrations.

Supermoon

You don’t have to be a committed stargazer to appreciate the spectacle of tonight’s supermoon. As the name suggests, a supermoon appears bigger and brighter than usual. It occurs when the full moon is closest to earth in its orbit.

Astronomy Ireland has said the best time to see it is at moon rise (10.20pm). The organisation has asked people to send in photographs which will illustrate a forthcoming special supermoon edition of its magazine.

Whether or not you capture it on camera, the sturgeon supermoon, as it is known, is a reminder of this magnificent natural satellite which has inspired people all around the world for millennia.

It is the first of two lunar events this month. On August 30, there will be a blue supermoon, a phenomenon that won’t happen again until 2032. Once in a blue moon is right.

Whether or not you capture it on camera, the sturgeon supermoon, as it is known, is a reminder of this magnificent natural satellite which has inspired people all around the world for millennia. Picture: Dan Linehan

Here’s hoping it stays clear tonight so we can admire the beauty of the night sky. Who knows, it might even remind us to pay a bit more attention to the wonders here on Earth too.