Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)

I thank Senator Colm Burke for raising this issue of water conservation, which is a priority area under the Department's water services investment programme. The main objectives of the water conservation programme are to reduce water loss in the public supply networks, to obtain value for money by deferring capital expenditure on new water supply schemes through improved supply and reduced consumption, and to ensure environmental protection by deferring the need to develop new water sources.

There are three distinct stages to water conservation on public water supply schemes. The first stage involves a local authority putting in place a water management system to enable the authority to monitor water use and loss throughout the supply networks. Under the second stage of the programme, the authority establishes an active leakage control programme, which involves locating and fixing leaks and based on the results of these two stages, the authority must establish a prioritised pipe rehabilitation strategy for its area. The final stage comprises the rehabilitation and replacement of defective supply networks where repair has proven to be uneconomic due to the age or condition of the pipes.

Over the past decade funding has been provided to local authorities to carry out water conservation works, mainly for the first two elements I have outlined. It has lead to some reductions in unaccounted for water, improved knowledge of the condition of water distribution networks and consumption patterns, and an improvement in the level and quality of supply to consumers. Exchequer spending on water conservation over the past ten years amounted to €168 million. This investment provides the platform for intensive investment in mains rehabilitation, which is a key priority under the Water Services Investment Programme 2010-13. This programme was based on needs assessments carried out by local authorities, which prioritised key contracts and schemes in this area, with a requirement to give top priority to water conservation works as an alternative to new infrastructure provision. A greater proportion of the funds available annually under the programme is being assigned specifically to water conservation works.

In the case of County Cork specifically, the council has not yet completed the preliminary phases of water conservation, including the strategy for rehabilitation for water mains on a countywide basis. However, the council has recently submitted an advanced stage rehabilitation works proposal to the Department for water conservation works in 141 separate locations throughout the county. This includes proposals to rehabilitate almost 4 km of water main in the Glantane, Lombardstown and Lahern areas.

As a general rule and in the interests of securing best value for money from Exchequer investment, the Department does not authorise a local authority to undertake mains rehabilitation works unless the authority has largely implemented the water management and leakage control works necessary throughout its functional area and has completed its strategy for mains rehabilitation on a prioritised county-wide basis. In some good news however, given the priority attached to water conservation and the level of unaccounted for water in County Cork, the Department has undertaken to assess the advanced stage rehabilitation works proposals, including consideration of whether funding can be provided at this stage for the proposals it contains for water main rehabilitation works in the Glantane, Lombardstown and Lahern areas.