Professor Tom Collins:

How long is a piece of string? A comprehensive education campaign could go right through the school system. It could be curriculum based, and in that context there could be some very interesting conversations with the primary and second level school system in syllabuses like geography and science, for instance. It always strikes me as bizarre, coming from the world of education, that children study geography with almost no reference to local rivers or local streams or local waterways.

There is a wide public education dimension to it outside the school system, but there is also a personal information element. I am not suggesting that people are not hugely animated by and concerned about this issue, but decision-making can be enabled with good quality information at a personal level. The points that were made about grandparents and child-rearing is new information for me. It is so interesting. This kind of information needs to be captured and put into the public domain.

The education question is related to the consultation question. At the moment, river basin management plans are being published and there is enormous stakeholder interest in what that will mean for the agriculture, farming and ICT industries. Therefore this debate is much wider than just the domestic side of the equation.

The Public Water Forum has representation from sectors such as tourism, which is a huge user of water, but is also reliant on a pristine water system. We also have rural groups on the forum, including the food industry which is equally reliant and becoming increasingly more conscious of water as a critical input in that industry. Therefore this is a national debate. The education and information process needs to work with all these multiple sectors in different ways so that there can be a national process of reflection.

If the issue of water charges had been addressed after the issue of a public debate on water, it might not have been as contentious as it proved to be.