Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It is good that we are progressing this Bill. As the Minister of State said, it is something we have been required to do by the EU. We could have Seanad Chamber debates all day, every day on the water situation in this country, which we all know is pretty dire on so many levels. I will stick to a couple of points. In the programme for Government, we said we would fully consider the review from the Commission for Regulation of Utilities of Irish Water’s proposed approach to water supply projects for the eastern and midlands region. This review has not been published yet and I want to bring that to the attention of the Minister of State. We need to focus on what we have committed to doing. We have to ensure that Irish Water develops drinking water safety plans to protect abstraction sources and reduce public health risks, including trihalomethanes exceedances in treatment plants, which is also a big issue that we got handed as a Government.

The Bill is welcome. I want to outline a couple of reasons why abstraction has to be monitored. In particular, large abstractions can lead to springs drying up and nearby wells emptying, as I have seen happen in my own county, higher pumping costs, subsidence, which we all know about, reduced river flows in summer, fish kills and saltwater intrusions that contaminate the groundwater.

With all that in mind, I want to focus on one aspect of the whole thing. We are talking about this big new plan that will cost millions of euro to take water from the Shannon to Dublin. This is something we have to seriously consider. An environmental impact assessment scoping report was prepared in 2016 by the project promoters but no actual assessment has yet been published to demonstrate the likelihood of significant impacts, such as ecological impacts, electricity demands and embodied carbon impacts. None of that has been reported yet we just keep talking about it happening. Maybe the people in Dublin think we are mad. They need the water but there are other alternatives, and I do not think everyone in Dublin agrees with it either. A matter that really worries me, which I raised with Irish Water, is that it has no consideration for investment in rainwater harvesting of any kind. That is shocking. There are grants available under the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, for other agri-schemes for rainwater harvesting. Not enough is being done to advertise that. People do not know about it. I worked with schools for many years and we got many schools to fit cubic metre tanks, which cost €80 in the local co-op and hold 1,000 l. They use them for grey water for gardening and everything else. It is a bit like electricity - instead of putting the photovoltaic on and leaving the lights on all night, the first thing a person does is to turn off the lights. It is the same with water. Let us cut our demand for water in the first place. Research carried out by a university in Dublin suggests domestic rainwater harvesting for grey water treatment could meet 94% of Dublin's water demand. I have a scientific paper that proves that. It is another good reason to ask why Irish Water is not considering rainwater harvesting. It is crazy. We have loads of rain in Ireland. We have water shortages because rainwater harvesting is not being taken seriously on domestic or national levels.

Abstraction also has to be considered alongside the accelerating impacts of climate change. Ireland is predicted to face increasingly hot and dry summers, with potentially serious impacts. We may run out of water because no water has been saved. Summers and the weather will change and have changed. While we were discussing climate change, the climate changed. It is insane that we have water shortages in a country where there is loads of rainfall. Now, more than ever, this is very important. I would love for the Minister of State to bring the point back to Irish Water, which is a State agency, that it has to take rainwater harvesting seriously. Domestic rainwater harvesting could meet 94% of Dublin's water demands. That is for grey water treatments. We all know Irish Water is treating water that is then being used to flush toilets. It is complete madness. I have been to water treatment plants. They cost loads of money and consume significant amounts of energy to pump the water. Alternatively, we could have rainwater harvesting, although maybe not in every apartment in Dublin, but there is rooftop rainwater harvesting and nearly everyone I know has space for a cubic metre tank at the back of their house. I have seen loads of houses where the householder has installed such a tank. We need to up our game in that regard.

The last thing that is deeply worrying is that, in January, Irish Water will take over responsibility for all water from local authorities. I am deeply concerned that the service in certain areas will be good, but Irish Water is taking over responsibility for all areas. When a person phones about a leak, in some cases the council says it is its fault, whereas in other cases the council says it is the fault of Irish Water but Irish Water says it is the fault of the council and it slips between the cracks. The bottom line is that if Irish Water is taking over water in January, we need to demand that it starts looking at the research that has been carried out and takes rainwater harvesting seriously instead of considering taking water from the River Shannon.

I welcome the Bill and the Minister of State's work on it. As previous speakers stated, we need enforcement. Rainwater harvesting could solve many of the problems, however.