FOUR MAJOR urban centres – Dublin, Galway, Athlone and Letterkenny – could face water shortages over the next five years unless major investment is made in infrastructure by 2013, according to the findings of a new report by Forfás.
In the report, the national policy advisory body for enterprise and science also identifies what appear to be serious problems with leakages from water pipes in major towns and cites.
“Ireland has relatively high levels of unaccounted-for water. Approximately 43 per cent of the total volume of treated drinking water produced in the gateways and hub towns is lost before it reaches the consumer,” it states.
The problems with water shortages in Dublin are well-known and the city council is examining new sources of supply, including a desalination plant in Dublin Bay or inter-basin transfer from one of the major lakes on the Shannon.
The report says the same four urban centres could face shortages of waste water treatment, as could Mallow in Co Cork, and Wexford.
In its other major finding, Forfás criticises the lack of transparency in how local authorities charge for water and waste water services for the business sector.
And on the contentious issue of introducing domestic water charges, it recommended that the full cost of providing the service should be clearly established by government to allow it to analyse if there is a case for continuing with the current EU derogation that allows Ireland to levy no charges for domestic water use.
While the report finds water quality generally high and that charges for water for non-domestic entities are competitive, Forfás chief executive Martin Cronin said there was not adequate information to explain the basis of the costs applied to businesses in Ireland or to assess if they were fully cost-reflective.
He said investment needed to focus on the services available in the National Spatial Strategy and that a more sensible approach would be needed to manage water services, such as consolidating supply services to the eight river-basin districts rather than the supply coming separately from 34 local authorities.
“We need to adopt a national approach to the delivery of water and waste water services. Moving to a river-basin district provision of services would maximise the potential for economies of scale and enable greater strategic planning and prioritisation of capital investment projects.
“Reducing the levels of leakage occurring and encouraging greater water conservation among businesses and domestic users has the potential to reduce the level of capital investment required,” said Mr Cronin.
