Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

The Senator has jumped a little ahead. The issue of metering will be dealt with in the fifth group of amendments. As a basic service, water will continue to be supplied without charge in domestic settings. Metering is an extremely good way to detect leaks. A lovely story was told by the president of the Federation of Group Water Schemes about how, when meters were first introduced to a part of the country I will not name, water wastage was greatly reduced. The simple fact of meters being installed led people to start turning off taps instead of leaving hosepipes running across yards.

The really beneficial aspect of meters is that they allow one to locate water and leaks, which sometimes can be very difficult to tackle. When the old men with the sounding pipes went, a great deal of wisdom was lost. Yesterday I was driving across the country canvassing and came across an elderly man using a sound tap to identify a water leak. Meters would allow us to dispense with such technology.

Perhaps I might also mention the issue that Senator Dardis raised, namely, local authorities using water from lakes into which there have been discharges. I shortly will be making regulations establishing a new authorisation regime covering discharges into waste-water works. Senators will be aware that in advance of this legislation I granted certain additional powers to the EPA to monitor water sources. The issue was mentioned in its last report, and we have already acted on it.

I am very pleased the section on privatisation meets the requirements of all sides of the House.