Bills avoidable by conserving water, says Minister

HOUSEHOLDS WILL be able to avoid paying water charges if they conserve water, Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan has said.

Speaking as he opened an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seminar on waste prevention in Dublin yesterday, Mr Hogan said generous free allowances would allow for washing and preparation of food.

The controversial charges are due to be introduced next year.

But he warned that any waste, such as householders not attending to a leaky tap or a burst pipe, would mean those involved would have to pay for the extra water.

Mr Hogan said he could not say what amounted to a “generous” allowance or what would be the price of additional usage. But he insisted that he wanted to assure people it was a water-conservation measure.

“There is an awful lot of water being wasted. It is wasted by local authorities through leaks in pipes, wasted by individual householders as well,” the Minister added.

Asked if a family would be able to typically operate within the free allocation, Mr Hogan replied, “that is what we envisage”.

While there would be no revenue from water sales if every household operated within its allocation, Mr Hogan said there would be a significant economic and environmental benefit to the State in not having to treat as much water.

The previous government had been considering granting a free personal allowance of 40 litres and an inaugural summit on water metering on Tuesday heard proposals for a personal allocation of 60 litres.

Allowing for current levels of waste, the South Dublin County Council website indicates that the current average daily water consumption per person in Ireland is more than 148 litres.

Mr Hogan said “there is a huge benefit if you actually don’t use as much water, in terms of waste and conservation”.

He added: There is a very good scenario for the environment, for the finances of the household and for the finances of the State.”

Speaking as he left the seminar, Mr Hogan said setting up the proposed new State utility company was relatively simple and could be enacted in time to take over the distribution of meters to more than one million households at a cost of €500 million.

He was, he said, open to the possibility of private sector involvement in the programme and noted that Siemens had already proposed such a scheme. “There has to be fair tendering though,” he added.

While Tuesday’s summit suggested comparable situations in the United Kingdom had resulted in an average household charge in the region of €400 per year, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said he could not say what the proposed annual bills for water will cost householders.

Mr Kenny said the Government had not made a decision about “the nature or scale” of the charges yet.

He told the Dáil that Mr Hogan had been signalling the Government’s intention to implement the programme for government and its intention to comply with conditions of the EU-IMF bailout deal.

The Taoiseach was replying to Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams, who said hundreds of thousands of people were coming to terms with the prospect of two new “stealth taxes”.