Water Charges: Report finds that 42% of water lost through leakage

It has been reported by the Leitrim Observer, that a recent report by Leitrim County Council has found that as much as 42% of the water generated by the South Leitrim Regional Water Supply Scheme is lost through leakage. This amounts to a staggering 3.8 million litres of water every single day.

Considering the Governments plan to introduce household water metering, the question must surely be asked, is it really appropriate for the Government to charge citizens for water while millions of litres are still being lost daily through a shoddy public water system?

The situation in Leitrim is not unique, it is replicated throughout the entire country.

Early estimates suggest the installation of the nationwide metering system could cost the taxpayer as much as 500 million euro. Surely given the enormous strain currently on on low income households, the ones who would be most affected by water charges, it would be more appropriate for this money to be used to repair the leaking system that is in place, and thereby save millions of litres of water each day without placing further strain on citizens who are already struggling to make ends meet.

The inadequacies of the present water system were highlighted last Christmas when thousands of households were left without a water supply, a situation which we are sure to find ourselves in again this Christmas, since the Government and Local Authorities have failed to address the problems in our outdated and malfunctioning piping system.

It raises questions over whether it is right to introduce charges while many households will still have to face a loss of supply during the cold winters.

Serious questions should also be raised over what the Government plans to do with households who simply cannot afford these water charges. Placing fines on already impoverished households would be pointless. Considering those most likely to be most severely affected by these new charges are large families on low income, a termination of water supply would raise serious ethical questions.

All of that taxpayer money, with which the Government through the Courts will use to attempt to extract payment from households that simply cannot afford it, would in my opinion, be better spent modernizing our water service to ensure episodes like last Christmas are not repeated.

This is unlikely to happen however, and picking up where there predecessors left off, Fine Gael and Labour appear to have chosen continue a policy of targeting the poor and most vulnerable citizens in the country, as they attempt to squeeze from the people every penny they can to repay the bankers debt.