Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The efficient, clean and cost effective delivery of water services is a very important policy area. As water services authorities, 34 city and county councils are currently responsible for the delivery and operation of water and wastewater infrastructure. In Ireland in 2010, water services cost over €1.2 billion to run, with a resulting funding gap of around €1 billion after revenues from non-domestic charges has been taken into account. At the same time, Ireland is the only OECD country not to charge households directly for the water they consume.

This Government has undertaken to reform water services arising from commitments in the programme for Government and the troika agreement. The Water Services (No. 2) Bill 2013 is the second piece of legislation required to implement the Government's policy for the reform of water services in Ireland, including the introduction of domestic water charges. There has been an historic under-investment in water and ageing and poor quality infrastructure exists in some areas. As an EU member state, Ireland has certain obligations arising from the need to comply with the water framework directive, including financial obligations. In addition, the current economic climate and its implications for Exchequer resources also form part of the context within which funding of essential services such as water provision need to be considered.

Ireland's drinking water supplies are under pressure from many fronts, including pollution and poor infrastructure, which affect the quality and quantities available. In Ireland, approximately 80% of drinking water originates from surface water, rivers and lakes, and 20% from ground water. It reaches our taps through a distribution system of public water supplies, which supplies the majority of Irish households, public group water schemes, private group water schemes, small private supplies and exempted supplies, predominantly private wells.

Unaccounted for water is a measure of water loss in a distribution system. The provision of a continuous supply to households in Ireland is under pressure, due in part to high levels of unaccounted for water, primarily leakage. Water investment programmes previously focused on water and wastewater treatments to ensure compliance with European directives and consequently, water mains renewal was neglected. As such, the water system in many parts of Ireland is leaky, inefficient and in need of significant investment.

The latest estimates of unaccounted for water are from 2011, and range from 16% in south Dublin to 60% in Kerry. Dublin City Council estimates the Dublin loses up to 28% of the treated drinking water per annum to leakage, down from 43% in 1998. Significant portions of the 19th century network need to be replaced to reduce leakage further, but over recent years, only 10% of the defective mains have been replaced.

While water loss is a common feature of water distribution networks around the world, with typical losses of between 25% and 40% - even the best modern systems struggle to get below 20% - when compared with other major cities, it is clear that improvements could be made. To this end, under the water service investment programme for 2010 to 2012, a total of €321 million was allocated nationally for the replacement or rehabilitation of defective or leaking water mains. Ground and surface water resources are not always protected, and many are at risk from pollution. As such, surface and ground water must be treated before being fit for human consumption. In general, surface water supplies require more treatment than ground water. However, some private water supplies, the majority of which are reliant on ground water, have inadequate treatment, or in many cases, no treatment at all.

A number of public water supplies which originate from surface water are treated only with disinfectant, which is insufficient. Drinking water quality is governed by the European Communities drinking water regulations. These regulations prescribe quality standards to be applied and related supervision and enforcement procedures on drinking water supplies. The water services authorities are responsible for the production, distribution and monitoring of the drinking water of the public water supplies and have a duty to ensure that drinking water intended for human consumption meets with the water quality standards. The Environmental Protection Agency is the regulatory body charged with monitoring and reporting on compliance levels on matters of water quality in Ireland. Its role includes assessing the wholesomeness of drinking water and undertaking technical audits on water supplies. The drinking water supply is deemed to be safe if it meets the chemical and microbiological quality standard set out in the regulations.

As the 2014 budget process has been prepared on the basis of the new funding structure for water services, it is important that legislation is enacted before the end of this year to facilitate the transfer of statutory responsibility. Local authorities are not providing for the funding of water services in the conventional manner in their 2014 budget, so if the Bill is not enacted by the end of 2013, then from the beginning of 2014, the local authorities will remain responsible for the provision of services, but will have no budget to deliver those services.

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