Water Charges Debate

'Water meters,' Pat Kenny asserted, 'will pay for [themselves] in two years.' This assertion was made this morning on his popular Radio One show. RTE's highest paid star got me thinking about an earlier blog I had written, which highlighted the unfairness of increases in the Licence Fee in the face of an evasion rate of 12%.

An analogy is drawn when one considers the move by Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, to allow County and City Councils to charge for a service that is inefficient and outdated. In the short to medium term, charges for domestic water usage will fall far short of the Consumerist mantra; value for money, as successive governments have failed in their obligation to maximise resources by improving water delivery infrastructure to comply with European Union standards. Charges will be incurred via a system of household meters and are on average expected to be in the region of 200 Euro per household per annum according to media reports. The average annual per capita water bill is 85 Euro in France and Germany, 59 Euro in Italy and 95 Euro in England and Wales.

The argument made is that in order to pay for such upgrades, especially as the government are pinching every penny, a direct tax on water usage is required and reasonable, even if you concede that the provision of water is a most basic human right. It is an argument, to my surprise, that I agree with.

The reality is, the level of investment necessary to meet the EU Water Framework Directive goals for 2015, is too high to ignore such an untapped, ahem, financial resource that is the domestic water charges market. Since 2006, 40 million Euro has been spent in the Dublin region, accounting for 60 kilometers of water mains replacements. This accounts for less than 10 per cent of the 800 kilometers of pipes that are over 70 years old. It must also be noted that on average each person in Ireland consumes 150 litres of water per day, higher than most other Europeans who do as it happens pay water charges (the average German uses 127 litres of water per day).

This is also the recommendation of OECD Environmental Performance Review. But they state that it should be done 'in a way that takes account of environmental, economic and social considerations.' Thank goodness for that.