Water Utilities: Motion

Deputy Phil Hogan

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

recognises the social and economic hardship caused by water restrictions and disruptions for families and local businesses;

recognises that an inefficient, outdated and fragmented water network has contributed to drinking water supply problems across the State;

notes that the State spends €1 billion every year in current and capital expenditure for water treatment and supply;

notes the need for significant water capital investment for the next four years and recognises the difficulty for the State in financing such investment through Exchequer funding;

condemns the vast amount of waste caused by 43% of water supplies lost through unidentified leaks; and

notes that problems associated with water shortages were discussed in Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann in January 2010 with little action taken since then to avoid a repeat of similar problems;

calls on Government to:

establish a single publicly owned water utility company to take over responsibility for water investment and mains management on a national basis while allowing local authorities to tender for the provision of services;

establish a new utilities commission to merge existing regulators for utilities and to take responsibility for regulating a new water utility company;

reallocate future water funding from the Exchequer to prioritise water conservation by investment in water mains weather proofing; and

examine all engineering resources of the State to ensure a rapid remedy to widespread burst water mains.

I wish to share time with Deputies Simon Coveney, Paul Connaugton, Billy Timmins, Pat Breen, Olivia Mitchell and Tom Hayes.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Deputy Phil Hogan

Fine Gael proposed this motion in recognition of the hardship that has been caused by water restrictions and disruptions during the recent cold weather. Our outdated and inefficient way of dealing with these problems contributed to this social and economic hardship. The lack of water conservation measures allows too much water to escape from an inadequate network of pipes. When we previously raised this issue in January 2010, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government indicated that he intended to take action to remedy the problems but no new initiative has been introduced since then. In preparing the motion, I had an opportunity to review the debate between Fine Gael Members and the Minister on similar issues resulting from last winter's flooding and severe weather. The Minister indicated then that he would reallocate resources to deal with water conservation and unidentified leaks. Given that he made the same statement on this occasion, I presume the €300 million he proposes to spend is the same money he announced 12 months ago.

These problems have been coming down the tracks for quite some time but there has been no planning on the part of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to deal with them. We have experienced several harsh winters, the likes of which many younger people have not previously witnessed. The shoddy workmanship during the building boom of the Celtic tiger era has been exposed by these recent weather patterns. It is now evident that the quality of building materials and our pipe network, as well as the supervision of workmanship under the building regulations, is inadequate and caused unnecessary hardship.

People are increasingly becoming accustomed to the notion that water is a finite resource that cannot be taken for granted. In the past, people left taps running, washed their cars or allowed water to flow indiscriminately around their properties. The State can no longer fund inadequate conservation of water by businesses and households. In the Dublin region alone, considerable planning will be required to develop a more certain supply of water from the River Shannon to cope with the inability of the eastern region to guarantee the water supplies needed to underpin future economic development. It is unacceptable that water supplies have not yet been restored to certain parts of Dublin city and elsewhere in the country three weeks after the crisis arose. The Minister and his Department have clearly failed to work with local authorities to plan for this issue.

Local authorities' outdoor staff have gone beyond the call of duty over the past several weeks in order to help local communities. They came out on Christmas Day to restore water supplies for vulnerable people. They are to be praised and lauded for the work they have done in appalling conditions. That, however, should not allow us to forget that leadership is required from the Department if we are to restore water supplies within a reasonable timeframe. We should be able to learn lessons from the past two winters of severe cold weather. The Minister has not learned anything from the winter of 2009-10 because he has not implemented any new initiative that would deal with the problems arising this winter. I suppose we will see action eventually.

Fine Gael put forward proposals 18 months ago to set out a new way of dealing with capacity issues and meeting our obligations under the water framework directive in order to avoid fines for poor water quality. Sewerage treatment plants cannot be allowed to continue pouring waste materials into our streams and rivers. Local authorities and the Department have failed to ensure good quality ground water and allowed this type of indiscriminate release of waste. A different approach is required to the current structure of 34 separate entities if we are to meet our obligations under the directive. We must acknowledge that the current way of doing business is not providing good quality supplies of water to the citizens and businesses of this country. The Government has belatedly acknowledged this problem in so far as it is mentioned in the memorandum of understanding between Ireland, the IMF and the EU. We will be required to attract investment into the water services programme. Fine Gael's proposals have, therefore, been favoured by the Government, the IMF and the EU.

However, the question that arises is when the Minister will finally come to the same conclusion. He alleges that we will privatise water supplies. I assure the House this is far from our intention. We want to keep the pipe network in public ownership because we are well aware of what happened to telecommunications when Eircom was ravaged by investors to the detriment of the citizen and the service. The company's failure to implement the promises made before its privatisation was due to a failure of regulation.

Fine Gael wants to restore good quality and consistent water supplies. Much of the water pipe network dates back to the Victorian era and will have to be renovated or replaced. Considerable infrastructural investment will be required if we are to modernise our systems and it will be a challenge for any future Government to provide the necessary resources over the coming years. We have identified funds from the NPRF and private sources that can be invested in a new semi-State entity called Irish water, with local authorities acting as agents in providing an essential part of our infrastructure. If we do not have good quality telecommunications services, transport networks and water systems, we will not be able to provide a good quality of life to our citizens or a business environment that provides employment.

I regret that the Government will be proposing an amendment to this motion because it was tabled with the intention of providing a constructive opportunity for agreement on a policy that has been forced on us by the IMF and the EU. For political reasons, the Minister was unable to allow the House to show unity on the provision of good quality water through prioritised investment over the coming years. Given that establishing a single publicly owned water utility company is now Government policy, I cannot understand why he cannot accept our proposal. A new utilities commission would merge existing regulators, of which, God knows, we have a lot even if some of them forgot to regulate in the past. We would support the Government if it took responsibility for regulating a new water utility regime. We would investigate the ways resources could be allocated in such a way that would meet the immediate demands of the citizen in terms of restoration of water supply and having a good quality supply while also eliminating unidentified leaks.

Water conservation measures have been successful in parts of Dublin but have not been as successful in other parts of the country given the figures produced showing that, on average, 43% of water escapes into the ground in unidentified leaks. That has been going on for a long time. Therefore, one must question how the resources which have been allocated in the past have been deployed and have had such poor effect, especially outside Dublin, in identifying leaks and implementing water conservation measures.

We have tabled this motion to highlight the difficulties the citizen has had this winter. People have had the same problems in the previous winter but the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government does not seem to have a plan as to how we will minimise the impact on citizens and businesses over the next few years. It seems clear that we will have the same difficult winter conditions for the foreseeable future and we must be able to plan effectively for them.

Deputy Simon Coveney

It is disappointing the Minister is not in the House considering the water crisis we have had again this winter following on from a different type of water crisis last winter which was caused by flooding. Again our water infrastructure has been exposed for what it is — outdated, inadequate and broken. Our management of water delivery systems has also been again exposed as inadequate for the country's needs.

What Fine Gael is trying to do is to put forward a solution rather than beat the Government over the head for the lack of reform it has introduced in its decade or so in government. We have been putting forward this solution for almost two years. We agree with the Minister that we need to invest significant sums of money upgrading a totally out of date water pipeline infrastructure of 25,000 km because at least 40% of it is not fit for purpose. The proof of that is that almost 50% of water in many counties leaks through the pipes into the ground before it gets to its destination. That figure has increased following the two extremely cold spells we have had. When people on radio, television and elsewhere say that supplies of water cannot meet demand, what they are saying is that part of that demand is water leaking through pipes into the ground. It is not to people's homes or businesses. A significant portion of demand for water usage, which costs us all a fortune to produce, simply leaks into the ground. That is a waste this country can no longer afford and it is also resulting in people's water being turned off while we try to contain the level of leakage in cities such as Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway and in many rural areas.

We agree with the Minister that we need to spend considerable sums of money and we need to find ways to finance upgrading the infrastructure over time. We also agree with the Minister that we should put in place domestic water meters as part of that process. What we do not agree with the Minister on is how he proposes to do that, which is to put more taxpayers' money into a management system which is neither working nor delivering. We are financing water delivery to 4 million people through 34 local authorities. How can it make sense to use 34 agencies to deliver water to a population which is the same as that in a reasonably sized European city? It makes no sense and as a result when we have a crisis, nobody takes charge or responsibility. There was a crisis in Northern Ireland and the chief executive officer of the company involved had to resign. We had just as big a crisis here but nobody resigned because nobody was in charge.

Some 34 county and city managers take responsibility for their own patch. Many of the water engineers and managers in local authorities are doing a really good job considering what they have been asked to deal with. However, one cannot have a national response to a water crisis if one asks 34 agencies to respond in their own patches without having co-ordination between all those agencies. It cannot be done. There is duplication and wastage and it does not work.

The country cannot afford the €2.8 billion the Government proposes to spend over the next three years on water infrastructure. We do not have it and we cannot borrow it, so we need to find new ways to finance this infrastructure, to put in place a national water strategy and to deliver water in a co-ordinated way through one entity. Fine Gael proposes to set up a new State company to build a new water infrastructure which we would finance through commercial borrowing and supplement it by raising money through the National Pensions Reserve Fund and selling certain State assets to help the capital expenditure programme. That is realistic and costed and it makes sense.

I cannot understand why the Minister does not agree with that constructive suggestion. The excuse or reason he gives for not agreeing with it is absolutely farcical. He says he cannot agree with what Fine Gael is saying because it is the thin end of the wedge to privatising our water networks. What a load of nonsense. If that was the case, we would never have set up a State company to roll out telecommunications infrastructure when that was needed. We would not have set up ESB when we needed to roll out electricity infrastructure when that was needed. We would not have set up Bord Gáis when we needed to roll out gas pipelines across the country to deliver gas to towns and cities.

Just because one proposes a State owned company to operate on a commercial basis does not mean one wants to sell it. Water infrastructure is a strategic State asset which Fine Gael in government will hold on to. However, we want to manage, develop and invest in it in a commercial way which makes sense.

We want to reshape the way in which we pay for water. Currently, we spend approximately €1.2 billion per year through capital and current expenditure to provide clean drinking water and 40% to 50% of the water leaks through the pipes. People can do the sums for themselves as to just how much wastage there is. Anybody who thinks water is free because a lot of rain happens to fall in Ireland is deluding themselves. Each time somebody turns on the tap to fill up a glass, it costs the State almost as much as it would cost Ballygowan if it was to give one the water for free in a Ballygowan bottle. In some cases, it probably costs the State more because it needs to treat and transport the water along a long broken pipeline infrastructure to get it to the tap. The same applies each time one flushes the toilet. One uses approximately ten litres of water each time one flushes the toilet. There are 1 million people in Dublin. How much water do they flush down the toilet? How much money and State funds do we flush down the toilet each day?

We have an insane approach to water management, delivery, conservation and valuation. Fine Gael will change that in government by putting in place a commercial entity to manage a water network and to bring large amounts of water from parts of the country which have excessive amounts of fresh water which can be treated for parts of the country which are short of water, such as Dublin. When we wanted to put a national motorway in place efficiently, we set up the National Roads Authority to do it because we could not do so through all the local authorities. We need to do the same now with water.

We agree that we need to introduce domestic water meters and we will grasp the difficult political nettle of proposing water charges in the future, but only if we put in an efficient delivery system that ensures homeowners are only paying for the cost of the water they use and not the tens of thousands of litres of water that leaks through the pipes every day on the way to people's homes, which would be an unreasonable request.

We will be up-front in telling homeowners that the taxpayer will continue to pay the majority of the cost of delivering water to their homes. People will be given a free quota of water based on the average daily usage per person, but if they go above that average on the user pays principle, the more water they use the more they pay. People who wash their cars, sprinkle their lawns or have swimming pools will need to incur the cost of that rather than asking the taxpayer to do so, which continues the fallacy that somehow water is free in Ireland; it is not. We have a broken infrastructure that we need to fix. We have a way of fixing it through a State-owned company that can manage, develop and plan for an efficient treatment and delivery system for water and the Government should listen to our proposal.

Deputy Paul Connaughton

I agree entirely with my colleagues' proposal. I have been around this House for a long time and have been involved with group water schemes for many years. Can one imagine a system that tries to deliver treated water to every house in the country? It all needs to be treated and the cost of treatment is extremely high. As that water flows along the pipe, half of it is lost before it reaches the house. It is one thing to pump raw water into a house, but it is another matter altogether to pump in all the treated water with 50% of it being lost. One can see straightaway that this is out of all proportion from an economic point of view.

From an engineering point of view, there is no problem. It was possible to put water into houses 100 years ago. Let us consider what Trócaire is doing in sub-Saharan areas with the money donated from Ireland. However, successive Governments have taken their eye off the ball. It is not possible to expect a pipe laid in 1960 to be an efficient carrier of water today. Of course it will burst somewhere and that is what has happened. With pumps the pressure had to be increased dramatically, which immediately blew the pipes out of the ground.

Against that background what has been said here this evening is that we need to get an overall semi-State utility organisation so that all 34 local authorities will be singing from the same hymn sheet. In several locations there was plenty of water on the Roscommon side of the Galway border but it could not be delivered to Galway because another local authority was involved. They would not allow it to cross the border.

Deputy Simon Coveney

It is the same in Cork.

Deputy Paul Connaughton

I have seen it many times. I have seen a ludicrous situation whereby people within ten miles of Ballinasloe only had their water restored yesterday. In some of the new housing developments — some of which are now under the remit of NAMA — the pipes burst and the council engineers had no alternative but to fix them to allow the water to flow out into the countryside, which gives an idea of the horrendous trouble the people on the ground had. I attach no blame to them; they did the best they could. The provision of water is one of the most important aspects of family, development etc. Somebody took their eye off the ball. Fine Gael is advocating installing a meter is outside every house, which will conserve water in itself. However, the pipes are so bad at the moment they could not take a meter in several places and that issue also needs to be addressed.

Deputy Billy Timmins

I commend the motion to the House. Flushing toilets would not be my favourite subject, if I had to pick a topic. Some people say a lot of rubbish is spoken in this House, but a lot of sense comes from this side of the House. I do not know if there is a prism somewhere in the vicinity of the Ceann Comhairle's chair, but when it filters through that prism very little seems to get through to the Government.

I commend Deputy Hogan on proposing this policy. Regardless of what body is established to manage water, there needs to be accountability. This time last year we wanted the NRA to centralise salt supplies. When we had the centralisation of salt supplies this winter the NRA would not give it to the local authorities to grit the secondary roads. What good is faith without good works? What good is responsibility without accountability?

I commend the great work carried out by local authority workers. Many houses and public buildings suffered considerable damage during the period. Every household should have a simple mechanism for turning off the water. The vast majority of people do not know how and where to turn off their water. All public buildings should have a switch. I know of schools that were destroyed with ceilings collapsing over the period. If they had a little switch at the door, when they are heading off for the Christmas holidays they could knock it off and thereby save considerable Exchequer funding on repairs.

Shortly in Government we hope to introduce proposals to install a mechanism allowing the water to be heated to deal with a decrease in temperature. I understand it costs €70 or €80 to install such a mechanism, which would alleviate considerable difficulties.

I heard Deputy Connaughton suggest that there should be a water meter outside every house. I would argue that there should be a water meter inside every house because at the moment water meters are outside business premises and the owners will not pay their water charges because they have no confidence in the mechanism of charging. They do not know where the leak is — if there is a leak; and they do not know how to read the water meter — people will not go out on their hands and knees with a torch lifting up a manhole on the side of the road shining down the torch trying to work out what is beneath them. Why can we not have meters in the house as we have ESB meters?

Without a system in which people have confidence, they will not pay their bills. Every local authority should hold seminars outlining to people in business how they are charged for water and how they can check if they have a leak. Various private enterprises installed meters a short while ago and most businesspeople do not really care about it. They do not want to know about it because ultimately they feel they will not be pursued by the local authority because the system is chaotic, which needs to be addressed.

Unlike our colleagues in Connacht, in Leinster we are very generous. As the Leas-Cheann Comhairle knows we supply water from Wicklow to Dublin and we get lots in return from the capital — we get a lot of its waste back in return. We take that and we are glad to take it. The water systems in Wicklow that supply Dublin are in danger of collapse. They have been in place since the 1860s or 1870s and considerable funding is required to get them up to scratch. I commend the motion to the House and I hope the next Government will introduce the measures outlined.

Deputy Pat Breen

I welcome the opportunity to speak tonight. I commend Deputy Hogan on tabling this timely motion. The importance of running water to hundreds of thousands of householders was brought home to them over the Christmas period. I am attached to a local group water scheme and was without water for eight days. It was not just householders, as farmers and businesses were also badly affected; that period was a nightmare for many people. As other speakers have said, the problem was compounded by a Third World mains infrastructure system. Much of the antiquated system is more than 30 years old and is unable to cope with the number of houses built over the Celtic tiger period. I commend the local authorities on the work they did and in particular Clare County Council in my constituency and the local fire service which mobilised water tankers and set up standpipes in the affected areas. That was done very quickly and these people are to be commended for this. Throughout the holiday period local authorities had to deal with thousands of leaks and it put considerable pressure on local authorities. I am told that in Ennis alone there were 360 breaks since St. Stephen's Day in one small area, which shows the extent of the problem. A significant number of businesses now find themselves in dire straits as a result of the bad business trading period before and after Christmas. While I am here, I appeal to local authorities to be flexible in dealing with the rate bills of these businesses which had to close during the period because of water shortages.

I want to highlight one area in my constituency. Last year we had the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, down to open the Ennis augmentation plant, on which more than €10 million was spent. In the treatment plant in Castle Lake and Sixmilebridge, which supplies the water to a considerable catchment area stretching from Kilkishen, Sixmilebridge and Shannon Airport, there is a problem at present. The obvious solution is to upgrade the Sixmilebridge plant and feed the water into Ennis, three quarters of the pipework has been already done and a new reservoir needs to be built in the Ballybeg area which would help alleviate the low pressure which residents living in that area must endure.

We need to take a more integrated approach to our water distribution network. We need direct connections. I commend Deputy Hogan's motion on setting up a State-owned water authority to co-ordinate the water networks in the country.

Deputy Olivia Mitchell

One of the many conditions of the IMF was, under the heading of infrastructure, that the Government would carry out an assessment of the transfer of responsibility for our water service provision from the local authorities to a national utility and would prepare proposals for implementation with a view to start charging by 2012-13, and this assessment was to be completed by the end of this year. What progress has been made on that? That time line is not a mere suggestion we might consider at some stage. This is a mandatory requirement because it is a precondition to the introduction of the universal water charging system. Without it, we will not meet the fiscal targets and if we do not meet the fiscal targets, there will be no IMF money. We do not have much choice about this. This is to what the Government has signed up. As other countries, which have been forced to go to the IMF for funding, have found out, the IMF does not hang around waiting for countries to make up their minds. If there is any dragging of feet, the IMF comes in and forces the issue. The IMF will bring in, as it has done in countries in South America, large international water providers such as Veolia Water and Anglian Water. I do not want that to happen here.

We have a plentiful supply of water. It is a basic, plentiful natural resource, albeit that we have woefully mismanaged and abused it. It is a resource which we certainly should be capable of harnessing, managing and conserving in our national interests. The Fine Gael NewERA policy is the way to go. The notion of a national utility, as opposed to the 34 local authorities of which we spoke earlier, is exactly what the IMF is recommending. It is not just the IMF recommendation. It is also international best practice that there should be a single provider.

At least here in Dublin there is a high degree of co-operation between the four Dublin local authorities. Even so, we are inefficient because we are drawing water from outside our catchment which is not best practice. Ideally, for efficient management and distribution, the water source should be the centre of one's catchment. The same applies throughout the country. We are taking water from Wicklow and, as time goes by, we will go even further to remote areas to get our water. Ideally, everybody should draw from either the same source, or at least a limited number of sources, instead of the 34 local authorities and various schemes all seeking to provide their own water sources and their own distribution networks.

The tragedy, which others have mentioned, is that during the Celtic tiger years the Government did not make an investment in the collection, storage and distribution of water. My own area of the south side of Dublin and a great proportion of Dublin city centre gets its main supply from the Victorian network which is collapsing. The local authorities are making valiant efforts to try to hold it together but we need total replacement of the system. The result is that on many occasions Ireland is like a Third World country, unable to guarantee a water supply to homes, businesses, restaurants and hotels. I hear the Government boasting that we are building a smart economy. It is laughable to speak of building a smart economy when we cannot guarantee a supply of water to our taps. There is one pharmaceutical company in Dublin that uses the same amount of water, and pays for it — I am not complaining about the company which provides many jobs — as the entire city of Cork. If another similar company wanted to set up in Ireland, we would have to turn it away. This is not just a conservation or a fiscal issue, it is a jobs issue. I recommend the motion to the House.

Deputy Tom Hayes

I am delighted the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, has come to the House because I am anxious about a number of places in Tipperary that need investment before he leaves office.

Deputy Olivia Mitchell

He missed me.

Deputy Tom Hayes

I will start by mentioning places such as Mullinahone and Drangan. The Burncourt water scheme has been dragging on for ever so long. Some progress has been made, but I would ask the Minister to give serious consideration to the people of Mullinahone who have endured a very bad water supply. There is a need for new pipes to be laid and a entirely new system between Burncourt and Drangan and the Fethard area. I hope the Minister will sort out that before he leaves office.

I am sure nearly every person in the country was affected over Christmas by difficulties with the water supply. It brings home to us the need for change and why we, the people and local authorities must learn from this. That is why the Fine Gael motion tonight is timely. I commend our spokesman on the environment, Deputy Hogan, on giving us an opportunity to speak on this.

The reality is that 43% is a significant amount of water to waste nationally out of our pipes before it gets to the homes, the farms, the hotels and wherever it is needed. We are losing that amount of water. We saw the pipes breaking down in mile after mile of road over the Christmas period. Nobody could stand over such a system.

I commend the local authority workers who went out in the freezing cold and the wet and who often had water sprayed into their faces. They had to endure difficult circumstances and they worked hard for long hours. If the Minister were to ask any one of those who were down the holes trying to fix the pipes what is needed, he would be told the entire system needs to be changed. The way local authorities go about their business needs to change. What my party is proposing is the best way forward. Taking the NRA and the way it dealt with the roads as an example, if there were a single agency to deal with our water system there would be a far better supply to consumers. If a system such as this were put in place, it would attract a great deal of industry to the country.

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Deputy John Gormley)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"—recognises the difficulties for families and businesses caused by the recent water supply disruptions;

acknowledges the extensive efforts by county and city councils to prepare for potential water supply disruptions caused by recent extreme weather conditions, to minimise disruptions for households and businesses and to make alternative supplies available where necessary, and to restore water supplies as quickly as possible;

recognises the importance of the work already carried out by the councils, and funded by the Exchequer, to develop water management systems and active leakage controls in identifying and repairing leaks;

notes the comprehensive review of the water services investment programme 2010-2012 completed in 2010 which:

provides for ongoing major investment in water services in the 2010-2012 period, with €495 million spent in 2010 and €435 million provided for 2011;

accords the highest priority to investment in water conservation to address the unacceptably high levels of leakage in water supply systems; and

includes contracts to the value of €320 million to commence on water conservation projects, including mains rehabilitation, in that period, which is more than double the investment in water conservation compared to the preceding seven years;

notes the proposals in the National Recovery Plan 2011-2014, published in November 2010, to:

commence a programme of domestic metering to be funded by the National Pensions Reserve Fund; and

establish an independent regulator for the water sector; and

notes the Government's intention shortly to commence an assessment of the need for a national water authority, which will consider, inter alia, the role of such an authority, the costs and benefits of establishing it and its relationship with other actors in the sector including local authorities.”

I could not be present to listen to some contributions to the debate as an almost identical motion is being discussed in the Seanad, which I had to attend. I had a brief meeting afterwards.

Deputy Tom Hayes

Is that why the Minister wishes to abolish the Seanad?

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht - Wednesday, 12 Jan 2011

Water Utilities: Motion

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 12 Jan 2011