IntroductionGood morning ladies and gentlemen. It is a pleasure to be here today to open this conference and I want to compliment the organisers for putting together such an interesting programme.
Rather than jumping straight in as it were and setting out how water metering is to be delivered in this country, I think it would be more helpful to set out clearly the context within which Government, local authorities and consumers find ourselves and the rationale for embarking on such a major programme of capital works at this time.
Ireland has invested heavily in improving our water services infrastructure and even in the current difficult economic situation the Government is continuing give priority to investment in this area. A provision of €435 million is being provided from the Exchequer this year to fund the ongoing investment in water services infrastructure. Such investment is required not only to expand infrastructural capacity,
but also to upgrade the water supply distribution network to tackle uneconomic levels of leakage, improve operational efficiency and comply with EU directives.
Over the past ten years, the cost of providing water services in Ireland has increased significantly. Increased investment in new treatment plants for drinking water and waste waster has increased the operational costs for local authorities. More stringent environmental legislation and rising energy prices have also contributed to the increase in costs. Continuing previous policies of providing water free, with no incentive to manage usage, is clearly not sustainable.
Of course many people in Ireland remain opposed to water charges but the current model of providing unlimited quantities of an expensive product at no charge is neither sensible nor sustainable. The OECD published a report on Ireland’s environmental performance in 2010, which specifically highlighted the difficulties being caused by our failure to charge households for water based on usage.
The OECD noted that Ireland’s failure to install water meters gives households zero incentive to save water or to minimise waste in the form of leaking pipes, running taps and other wasteful uses such as the unnecessary use of garden hoses. The OECD also advised that the failure to measure water use further perpetuates the public’s low awareness of consumption levels and the real cost of water services. A better understanding of costs could in itself promote some reduction in consumption. The OECD went on to observe that water metering will also remove the inequities between households. A house with large gardens, or even a swimming pool, will pay significantly more than a smaller household with average consumption.
The OECD also concluded that the absence of water metering contributes to a lack of incentives in the planning system and in building regulations and practices to focus on the water economy, for example rainwater harvesting.
International experience, and indeed evidence from the Group Water Schemes here in Ireland which you will hear about later this morning, is clear in showing that water metering can achieve significant reductions in consumption. When households understand that they can manage their water bills through reducing consumption, they are provided with an important incentive to manage their water use responsibly. In Denmark, a reduction of 12.6% in household consumption was achieved in the period 1996 – 2007 following the introduction of water meters, along with the promotion of water saving devices. The Walker Report, prepared for the UK Government and published in 2009, estimates that water metering in the UK has the potential to achieve a reduction of approximately 16% of average household demand through reduced personal consumption and reduced customer side leakage.
There is also evidence from closer to home, from the group water sector. The National Federation of Group Water Schemes informed my Department about a particular water user who had failed to fix a leaking outside tap. The cost to the group water scheme was estimated at over €700 per annum.
The problem was addressed by installing a new washer on the tap for an investment of 70 cent! Another example involved a house with a leaking service connection which was causing a loss of water estimated at almost 3 million litres per annum at an estimated cost of almost €800. In this case the problem was repaired for €450. I am certain that you will be interested in the presentation from Mr Brian McDonald from the Federation on their experiences with metering of the group water schemes.
The Greater Dublin Water Project estimated that customer side leakage may be as high as 65 litres per property per day but more recent studies in Dublin suggest that customer side leakage could, in some locations, be significantly higher. The installation of water meters will ensure that these leaks can be identified and fixed. Metering will therefore achieve significant reductions in the volume of water that are required to be treated every day and will lead to savings in the operational costs of delivering water services and in deferred capital expenditure.
Moreover, it will lead to other environment benefits such as reduced abstractions from our rivers and lakes and in reduced carbon emissions from lower energy consumption.
The domestic water metering progamme, which is a commitment in the Programme for Government, will be a significant undertaking and I do not underestimate the work involved in delivering this commitment. However, I am confident that with the appropriate planning, careful preparation and effective implementation, the metering programme will be delivered in a timely and efficient manner. I am also very encouraged by the expertise we have built up in the metering programme for the non domestic sector. This expertise, in both the public and private sectors, will be of great benefit to us in this task.
Ireland has a very diverse water supply system, with over 950 public supplies producing some 1,600 million litres of water daily through a network of 25,000 km of pipes. The extent of burst water mains places a particular focus on the vulnerability of the Irish water distribution system, in particular given its age,
the high levels of leakage in the system and the lack of investment historically in mains rehabilitation.
As I mentioned earlier, we have invested heavily in improving our water services infrastructure. The focus of investment over recent years has been on investing to ensure compliance with the European Directives on both drinking water standards and urban waste water discharges and improving water supply to keep pace with population and economic needs with total investment exceeding €6 billion over the last decade or so through my Department’s Water Services Investment Programme.
The current Programme, which runs to 2012, provides for increased investment in critical mains rehabilitation with contracts with a value of some €320m set to commence over the period of the programme. This is more than double the investment of €130m in water conservation measures in the whole period from 2003-2009.
Most of the expenditure to date on water conservation outside Dublin has largely been in technology based water management systems. These systems proved invaluable during the water supply difficulties caused by the recent cold winters both in managing production and providing data to assist in leak detection. The data from these systems provide the platform for the development of mains rehabilitation strategies to guide critical mains rehabilitation whereby water distribution pipelines are relined or replaced and serve to maximise the savings from the investment. While the Dublin authorities’ programme of rehabilitation is the most advanced, most other authorities are now in a position to commence contracts on mains rehabilitation this year.
The Government recognises that there is a need for a more fundamental shift in the way water services are organised and funded in Ireland. The Programme for Government also proposes the establishment of ‘Irish Water’, a new State water company. The early establishment of Irish Water is a priority for me but the transfer of functions from local authorities to the new company needs to be carefully managed.
My Department is in the process of engaging consultants to undertake an assessment on the establishment of Irish Water. This assessment, which will be completed this year, will examine the optimum role of the company and will assist in defining the functions of the company. The assessment will also make recommendations on how specific areas of work are to be transferred from the local authorities to the new company. The consultants will be required to submit a final report, setting out detailed implementation issues by October this year and I intend to bring proposals to Government on the establishment of Irish Water before the end of 2011. However, it is my intention that Irish Water will be responsible for managing the national metering programme as well as the management of the subsequent service delivery including issues such as meter reading, billing, revenue collection and customer service provision.
A specialised water company will also build competencies in other areas of water services management to allow problematic issues to be addressed nationally.
These issues include unacceptable levels of leakage from the water mains and so called ‘unaccounted for water’.
We cannot continue to tolerate a situation which allows such high volumes of water, treated to a high quality standard at great expense, to be unaccounted for. The increased prioritisation of water conservation and mains rehabilitation in the current Water Services Investment Programme will complement the domestic metering programme in this regard and I am confident that the levels of unaccounted for water will be reduced significantly as a result of these investments.
In preparation for the domestic metering programme, my Department has given detailed consideration to the approach to be taken to the procurement of the metering programme. The metering programme will involve significant works throughout the county and it is of the utmost importance that the programme delivers the best value for money. My Department has also consulted with the Commissioner for Energy Regulation in relation to potential synergies between the water metering programme and the Smart Metering Programme for gas and electricity meters.
It is my intention that the installation of water meters under the metering programme will be underway early next year. The capital intensive nature of the installation of water meters to over one million households has the potential to offer significant employment potential over the next five years.
The establishment of Irish Water and the roll out of the metering programme provide real opportunities to enhance the delivery of water services in Ireland.
I welcome the consideration being given to the metering programme by the conference today and I hope that the conference is a great success.
Thank you.