Mr. Liam McCarton:

On that, if there is one very valuable point to make, it is that while we spoke about the potential supply of 30% of households, if we flip that, a local authority currently has to supply water to a house. If there is potential to have that coming from rainwater harvesting on site, this means there is an opportunity either for the local authority to have an additional 20% to 30% capacity in its treatment plant or there is a cost saving to the consumer and potentially to the producer.

The last point concerns re-thinking, particularly for professionals. It is well-developed internationally that the focus is going to be on designing water in rather than water out. While that may seem like a catchphrase, our approach has always been to design developments to get rid of the water as quickly as possible. Whether it is storm water or wastewater, the idea is to get if off site. There is now a rethink internationally and something we want to discuss is to examine dealing with it onsite.

There are two possibilities for discussion. First, we think the way to bring this forward on a viable strategy is to look at working pilot schemes, best international practice and then at developing that through a series of new build and retrofit with the purpose of evaluating exactly the cost benefits to the consumer. There is significant potential to reduce the cost to the consumer, in particular with the onset of water charges and so on. There is also a cost benefit to the producer. We should also look at the barriers and incentives that are required and we need to link that to vocational training to produce a set of guidelines and technical standards. We need to take this from the idea stage and international stage to a viable working project in the context of Ireland.

Second, we propose-----