Sir, - I'm writing to express my dismay at the recent decision to abolish water and sewerage charges. It sends a clear message to every household in Ireland. "Use as much water as you like, when ever you like, and use as much of the waste treatment capcity as you like they're all free.
But water is not "free", any more than a pint of Guinness is free we are spending hundreds of millions of pounds in upgrading the quantity and quality of our water supplies, and in providing advanced treatment for water borne waste, and these must be paid for.
The problem with the old system of a fixed charge per household was that it was both unfair and inefficient. As incomes grow, consumption of water increases dramatically, unless conservation is encouraged by charging on the basis of volume of water consumed and of waste generated.
But the poorest household (using little water) paid the same as rich households (using much more). And, because it was a fixed charge, it also did not encourage conservation.
A fair and efficient system would base the charge on volume consumed, providing a small quantity for free, with the unit charge increasing the more you.
But we have replaced a poor system with a much worse one. By abolishing water and sewerage charges, we have undermined the user and polluter pays principle, which must be at the heart of any coherent system of environmental management. The consequences are inevitable and depressing. Over time, to meet the ever increasing demand generated by "free" water, we will have to harness more and more of our river and ground water resources, with consequent damage to fishing, amenity and environmental functions generally. We will have to ration water, because supply will in any event be unable to keep pace with demand. We will not be able to afford the dramatic increase in running costs for the new advanced treatment plants we are building they won't be operated to maximum efficiency, with resulting environmental degradation. And everyone seems delighted. - Yours, etc
Chairman,
An Taisce,
Tailor's Hall,
Back Lane,
Dublin 8.