Nicky McFadden (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 47: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the measures that can be taken to prevent water lost due to pipe bursts in local authority areas during severe weather. [15650/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Water conservation is a key element of my Department's Water Services Investment Programme 2010 – 2012, a copy of which is available in the Oireachtas Library. A primary objective of the Programme is to reduce water loss in the distribution networks to an economic level and to address unacceptably high levels of unaccounted for water.

Some €168m was spent between 2003 and 2010 on water conservation since the launch of the national water conservation programme in 2002. This investment has largely been focussed on putting in place the water management systems to allow for active leakage control and better planning of mains rehabilitation. Most local authorities have now completed or are close to completing the initial phases of water conservation, and this provides the platform for intensive investment in mains rehabilitation. Consequently, the Water Services Investment Programme 2010–2012 allows for a significant acceleration in the level of investment in this area, providing for contracts with a total value of some €321 million to commence in the period 2010 to 2012. It is estimated that these contracts will allow for the replacement of 640km of mains or about 3% of the public national network. Over time, this investment should lead to marked reductions in unaccounted for water and progress in this regard will continue to be monitored on an annual basis through the local authority service indicator process.