Water Services Bill: Privatization and Charges

I think there is an enormous amount of naivety surrounding the future of Irish Water and water charges which probably has not been clarified by the recent passing of the Water Services Bill. First is that it is inevitable that the private sector will take an increasingly significant role in managing and providing water services in Ireland which will lead inevitably to privatization. The current situation of paying companies to operate water and sewage treatment facilities does not make long term sense as the investment in plants is simply not being made. Also the lack of a coherent and suitable training as well as the absence of a career structure in the industry needs to be addressed and this is probably best served by privatization. There are few companies with the experience to take on a sector of this magnitude and so it is obvious that one of the major European water companies would be best suited.


The second area of naivety surrounds water charges. What is the charge for exactly? The current suggestion of €300-350 as an average seems to be for water supply…in other countries there are two charges one for supplying water and another for taking it away after you have used it for treatment and finally disposal. So inevitably water charges contain two separate elements. So will you only pat half of the water charge if you have a home treatment system? It would appear that we should expect a second charge for wastewater bringing the expected total bill to around €500-750 per household which would be similar to that in the UK. This is something that I would like to see clarified.

Irish Water will become a subsidiary of Bord Gáis

The Government announced today that the new State water authority Irish Water will become a subsidiary of Bord Gáis (The State owned Irish Gas Company). The formation of a new State Water Authority is to be welcomed as it will for the first time facilitate the provision of water, sewerage and wastewater to be operated holistically. It may also allow Irish Consumers, for the first time, to have the same rights as water consumers in other countries and a proper route for the handling of complaints about water quality, something that is currently lacking in Ireland. On the whole the County Councils and Local Authorities have done an amazing job over the years and to some extent it is sad to see this come to an end. However, the senior management in County Councils didn’t rise to the challenge and have now lost one of their key roles.

In some areas local authorities have failed to react to the real needs of consumers and the poor provision in some areas, often linked with poor planning decisions, has left us with complex supply and sewage treatment problems. However, hidden away in water and wastewater treatment plants around the country we have a wealth of fantastic technical and operational personnel with extensive expertise, which I hope will now be allowed to play a more central role in the operation and management of our water services.

We must be very careful to remember that in all the hype about charges there are real public health issues at the core of this change as well as the environmental issues. Personally I would have preferred to have seen a standalone Water Authority similar to those in the UK prior to privatization based on regional areas where staff, equipment and expertise could be shared. Ireland is small enough to have based these on our existing River Basin Districts and to have had the catchment management functions associated with River Basin Management Plans also come under their auspices. Apart from knowing how to collect revenue and lay pipes, I am at a loss to know what Bord Gáis can bring to this critically important and technically very different industry.

The water industry represents a massive and continuous investment by the tax payer for over a century and it should not be allowed to be asset stripped by the private sector, although it is unlikely that with its small size, dispersed population and the complex arrangement with Group Water Schemes that it will prove to be an attractive investment for some time to come. I wish Water Ireland well, but hope that it creates a sustainable water infrastructure for the future and prosperity of Ireland.

Water Restrictions Could Spread to Ireland

Shower timers can be tradtional egg timer
design or digital alarm systems

I am feeling rather depressed at not being issued with a waterproof four- minute egg timer for use in my shower as a simple tool to conserve water.  These are being issued throughout south-east England in an attempt to conserve supplies. South East and Anglia Water areas are especially at risk as are the midlands, including Birmingham.  However, with hosepipe bans inevitable, it appears that we are heading for a very dry year…as dry as 1975 which I remember very well.  It was the first and only time I have seen lawns and agricultural grassland simply wither and die.  Ireland may also be facing a similar situation this summer and as supplies are always at a critical level in the East, especially in the Greater Dublin area, it is perhaps time to seriously consider conservation measures and issuing waterproof egg timers here as well.

The Chlorine Institute

There are so many interesting an informative websites in cyberspace now that it is hard to keep track. An interesting one for me is the Chlorine Institute which works with the Chlor-alkali industry. Chlorine is synonymous with water and wastewater disinfection, although it has enormous industrial applications. But those of you interested in the use of chlorine and its derivatives for water disinfection should check out this large and informative site. There is a particularly interesting section on Emergency Response. Link.

Dublin Faces Possible Water Shortages

Dublin City Council have issued advanced notice that their reservoirs in the Wicklow mountains are rapidly falling due to a very dry March and April resulting. With little or no water replenishing stocks reserves now stand at 120 days, rather than the usual 178 days normally expected at this time of year. This means that if dry weather continues then restrictions will have to be implemented both in the City and throughout the Greater Dublin area. The cut off point is 80days storage at which restrictions will be put into place. Consumers are asked to conserve supplies, especially in relation to using water for the garden and washing vehicles etc.

Today is Word Water Day!

The theme of this year’s World Water Day is ‘Water for cities: responding to the urban challenge’.

Grand Canal: The heart of Dublin City

For those of you who don't know about the Grand Canal and how much a part of Dublin it is, here are two great videos showing just how much a part of the City it is.

Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami

I don’t need to say anything about this appalling tragedy except that clean water and sanitation provision are vital after such emergencies and the shear scale of this disaster is putting even the resources of a wealthy country like Japan under pressure. The Japanese Red Cross is playing a vital role in co-ordinating the international relief effort. If you would like to make a donation to help Japan at this difficult time then Google have set up a simple donation system. Link

Word Water Day 22nd March 2011

The theme of this year’s World Water Day is ‘Water for cities: responding to the urban challenge’. The aim is to focus attention of all stakeholders to the challenge of urban water management to deal with the impact of rapid urban population growth, industrialization and uncertainties caused by climate change, conflicts and natural disasters on urban water systems. Link

Massive investment for flood protection in England

The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (defra) announced 39 new flood and coastal defence projects throughout England last month, 21 one of these are to reduce to risk of flooding protecting over 13,000 households. This is part of an enormous programme involving nearly 300 projects which are managing the risk of flooding costing £521 million in the coming year. Full datails of the projects can be accessed here.

Irish EPA Drinking Water Quality Report

Copyright EPA

Yesterday the Environmental Protection Agency published its annual report on the quality of Irish drinking water quality for the period 2008/2009. The report covers 944 public water supplies and shows problems of faecal contamination and high trihalomethanes in some supplies. The number of private group water schemes where E. coli was detected dropped from 134 in 2008 to 87 in 2009 with17% of all private group water schemes identified as microbially compromised at least once during 2009. The EPA indicated improvement is required in the compliance of aluminium and turbidity parametric values. At the end of 2010 there were 264 supplies requiring remedial action to bring them up to standard.

Dublin's Water Crisis Revisited

Now that water supplies have returned to normal throughout the country it is time to look back at what happened. The problem during the intense cold weather with burst pipes and excessive demand caused by families forced to stay at home while also leaving taps running overnight night to prevent pipes freezing drove up demand well beyond the supply capacity of 545 MLD peaking at 625 MLD. So while demand is now well within capacity we will be faced with exactly the same problem the next time we have a severe cold spell.

Our real problem in Dublin is that demand is steadily rising and is estimated to reach a staggering 800MLD over the next 25 years. Couple this demand figure with expected summer rainfall reductions of 20-30% and a temperatures increase of 1.0-1.5 degrees C by 2050, the problem of supply shortfalls can only get worse. Plans are in place to transfer water from the Shannon to storage lakes in Offaly and then supplied to Dublin as required. However, we may need to look seriously at alternative actions. Many have called for greater leakage reduction; however, leakage in Dublin is down from a high of 43% in 1990 to the current level of 29%, although leakage of 40% is common in some of the hub towns around the capital. Although it is planned to reduce leakage in Dublin to 20% by 2031, this is probably unrealistic due to cost. Most utilities with similar distribution infrastructure to that of Dublin are only managing about 24% on average requiring huge and continuous investment annually to maintain this level. Leakage is a fact of life and even after decades of investment UK water utilities are still loosing 3,275 MLD from their mains. What is clear is that for over a decade in Ireland we have focused on improving surface water quality rather than investing sufficiently in water supply infrastructure and water conservation. Given the current financial situation it may now be too late. For that reason it makes even greater sense to adopt a water demand management approach to our water supply problems. This is the focus of the research being conducted by Jennifer Brady a member of Water Technology Research Group.

RTE 1 News

Pprofessor Nick Gray was interviewed today for RTE Evening News about the long term problem of Dublin water infrastructure.  Link

RTE Radio1 Drivetime Interview

Professor Nick Gray was interviewed today by Drivetime presenter Philip Boucher Hayes along with engineering consultant Kevin Murray on the future of the Irish water industry and what has been learnt from the current supply crisis. The interview can be accessed for the next 7 days: Link

Dublin's Water Shortages Ease



Copyright: RTE News


 For the first time since the thaw water demand in the Greater Dublin area has dropped below production. The supply on the 1st January, 2011 (Happy New Year!) was 545 MLd while demand was at 522 MLd.  However, water restrictions will remain in place for at least another week to allow stored water supplies to recover, so for most of Dublin's population this will mean that supplies will be cut off from 18.00 to 7.00 each night.  The situation around the rest of the country continues to improve as leaks are detected and repaired.

Irish Water Supply Problems Update

For an update of the current water supply problems facing water suppliers then you should search the relvant County Councils.  For Dublin these are:

• Dublin City Council 
• Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council
• Fingal County Council
• South Dublin County Council

The current situation in Dublin is not that there is insufficient water in its reservoirs but rather that burst pipes have caused an increase in demand to 624 ML per day while current supply capacity via its treatment plants is 550 ML per day leaving a shortfall of >70 ML  resulting in restrictions.

Ireland Facing Water Supply Crisis

Irish water suppliers are faced with further restricting water supplies throughout the country as the thaw sets in due to excessively high demand caused by burst pipes. Over 60 ML was lost last night from fractured mains in Dublin alone. Most seriously affected towns and cities include South Dublin, Cork city, Kilkenny, Athlone and Limerick.  Counties Wicklow, Kildare, Westmeath, Sligo  and Clare are also seriously affected.  For example, over 20,000 people in Tralee, Co. Kerry, are having water supplied on a phased basis only during the day as the local reservoirs are empty, with all supplies turned off during the night. Similar restictions are in place nationwide. Suppliers are also warning of curtailments to supplies as burst pipes are repaired and are calling for householders and businesses to conserve water to prevent further restrictions and interruptions in supplies.

The Cotswold Canals Partnership

Canals throughout Europe are being recognized as an important asset after 100 plus year of neglect.  The Cotswold Canals Partnership is in the process of restoring the Cotswold Canals i.e. the Stroud Water Navigation (12km) and the Thames and Severn Canal (46km). Once completed England’s two greatest rivers, the Thames and the Severn, will once again be connected after falling into disrepair almost seventy years ago.  The project website is full of engineering and conservation details, wonderful photographs documenting the work as it is being undertaken, and much more. Link

Leakage Remains a Challenge for Suppliers

Leakage is the starting point in the conservation of drinking water supplies. In the UK leakage reduction targets are monitored by the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat). However a number of companies have failed their targets for 2009/10 including Yorkshire Water who lost on average 295 million litres a day (ML/d) over this period. The target for 2009/10 was set at 3,275 ML/d for all companies in England and Wales and this was almost achieved with reported loss for the period of 3,280 ML/d. However, the overall trend is still downwards with 8.4 and 34.2% reductions since 2005/6 and 1995/6 respectively. Thames Water still are losing the most via leakage at 670 ML/d with Severn and Trent Water close behind at 495 ML/d, but both within their targets of 685 and 500 ML/d respectively. Where targets are not meet then Ofwat can force companies to invest even more money in achieving leakage reduction. For more information about company leakage and performance in general see Ofwat’s annual report: Service and delivery – performance of the water companies in England and Wales 2009-10: Water today, water tomorrow.

CDP Water Disclosure 2010 Global Report

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is an independent not-for-profit organization that collates greenhouse gas emissions and climate change strategies of the world’s leading corporate bodies.  They have just published the CDP Water Disclosure 2010 Global Report on line in which water use by leading corporate bodies is listed and explored.