Gormley to detail plan to charge for water

PROPOSALS TO introduce domestic water charges with new water meters for every home in the State are to be brought to Government in about two weeks.

The proposals, which were signalled in this year’s budget, will be brought forward by Minister for the Environment John Gormley.

However, the Minister said yesterday it is unlikely the installation of 1.1 million meters will be completed by June 2012 – which means domestic water charges will not be in place before the next general election.

The Minister stressed Ireland had not yet been fined by the EU for its confirmed breaches of the water framework directive, but he warned that despite investing €4.6 billion in the last decade, water services were still “a problem”.

Mr Gormley made his remarks as he announced a “reprioritising” of the latest, €1.8 billion Water Services Investment Programme 2010-2012. The programme will now give preference to projects which target environmental compliance issues in a bid to achieve sustainable water supplies and avoid fines.

It will also target repairs to the water networks to eliminate waste and protect water basins. It is estimated “lost” water ranges from 16 per cent to 58 per cent of supplies. The programme provides €320 million over the three-year period for remedial works.

A greater emphasis on water conservation through the introduction of water metering and inducements for householders to cut down on usage also forms a significant part of the new programme.

Mr Gormley said yesterday he did not believe it made sense “from an economic or environmental perspective to invest in expanding water treatment capacity if there is a significant loss of treated water in damaged or ageing networks”.

Weaknesses in the system were highlighted during the cold spell in February when much of Dublin experienced shortages, he said.

“If anything this is a display of realism here. We are saying that we have a problem with water. I am facing up to that problem. More so than, I would have to say, previous administrations and that is why we are saying ‘look, we are going to have to introduce water charges’.

“That is very realistic, not particularly popular, but it is facing up to that reality. All of the evidence shows that when you actually charge people for water people conserve it, people use it wisely.”

Mr Gormley said Ireland was one of the few European countries that did not charge for water but he said news reports yesterday morning that the charge could be as much as €400 per household were inaccurate.

The Minister refused to indicate the levels of charges in advance of an announcement in the coming weeks, but he said they would not be based on a flat fee.

Mr Gormley said flat fees encouraged householders to feel they had paid for the water and might as well use it. Incremental charges encouraged conservation, he said, adding that costs may be based on a German model.

However, a report in the UK’s Daily Telegraph, quoting a survey produced by energy consultants NUS, which monitors energy and water prices on a quarterly basis, yesterday claimed Germans pay more for their water “than anybody else on the planet”.

At €1.70 per 1,000 litres, prices were four times as much as in America, and twice as much as in Australia. Britons pay €1.34 for the same amount, a little less than the Belgians, the Telegraph said.