One water meter installed every 30 seconds, says Minister

Domestic water meters are being installed at a rate of one every 30 seconds, with more than 400,000 already in place, Minister for Environment Alan Kelly has told a conference in Dublin.

With households set to receive bills for metered water from January next, Mr Kelly said the installation programme was “unparalleled anywhere in its scale” and is sustaining 1,200 jobs in the industry.

He said transferring responsibility for water services from local authorities to Irish Water would raise standards in places where water quality was not good enough, and ensure “Ireland’s future is one with a safe and secure water supply”.

Mr Kelly was speaking at the annual Environmental Protection Agency's Environment Ireland conference.