Hot on the heels of the ‘Great Frame-up’ of 2009, whereby public sector workers were hammered, and forced to pay, for the crimes of the developers/bankers, the propaganda campaign to facilitate the next big stitch up is already well underway. Ordinary householders around the country are being blamed for the water crisis currently being experienced in many local authority areas.
The line being spun by government and local authority sources and sections of the media is that the dry taps in areas of Dublin and elsewhere result from householders leaving their water running continuously to prevent their supply from freezing during the recent very cold weather. Perhaps some did, and if so, it is to be deplored. It is taxpayers’ funds that provide pure drinking water and this should be conserved with great care.
But to blame the current crisis on householders is patently dishonest when the evidence for massive wastage of treated water points elsewhere – to structural deficiencies due to insufficient investment in water infrastructure.
The annual report on services by local authorities for 2008 shows the real reason for the water crisis. Incredibly over 50% of treated water in many local authority areas is wasted in leaks from broken pipes. South Dublin and Kildare councils which showed the least waste, still lost one fifth and one quarter respectively, of their treated water. Recent frost would have worsened this situation.
The crude blaming of the crisis on householders marks an intensification of the propaganda campaign for the reintroduction of household water charges. The government and big business sees this as another opportunity to shift more economic burdens onto the shoulders of PAYE workers and pensioners. But with sickening hypocrisy, they try to give a proposed new stealth tax an environmental cover.
They say that householders should be required to pay water charges because otherwise they act recklessly and waste copious amounts of water in their homes and . forcing people to pay water charges, especially if measured by meters, would save considerable amounts. In fact the evidence shows this to be a false argument. Studies show that in Dublin in 2007 there was an average consumption of 150 litres per person per day(l/p/d). In Scotland, where water is charged for, the average was 146 l/p/d and in England, where water is largely privatised and expensive, the average was the same as Dublin.
The Chairman of the Cork Region of Engineers Ireland, Mr Kevin Murray, a strong advocate of water charges, states in last month’s Engineers Journal that the argument that ‘water meters will be fairer and will change behaviour of the consumer . . . .is largely a myth.’ He points out that the approximate €500 million it would cost to install meters in every home would not be justified as an investment toward reduction in use but is in favour of meters nevertheless for more general water management purposes.
The current government is utterly bereft of credibility when it comes to water conservation. A full 50% of the houses now in the State were built since 1997. Here was a brilliant opportunity to make major changes to building regulations to require extensive water conservation measures to be included in the design and construction of all new homes. These could have included dual flush toilets, rain water collection tanks and even new plumbing methods allowing collected rainwater to be used for many household purposes where drinking standards are not required.
How effective such measures could have been, is borne out by studies which show that 30% of the 150 l/p/d used in Dublin goes in flushing the toilet, that is 45 litres. With a dual flush system, about half of this could have been saved, say 20 litres per person per day. If we calculate a population of 1.4million people for the greater Dublin area, that would amount to a saving of 28 million litres per day, or 10.2 billion litres per year. That is 10.2 billion litres of pristine drinking water currently flushed down the toilet each year.
But what did the Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrat governments do? Without making any significant changes to the building regulations relating to water conservation, they allowed the developers to walk away with countless billions in profits from the obscene prices they were allowed charge for houses. Now they have the audacity to demand that we heed their posturing about being serious regarding water conservation.
What is now needed is a massive public water mains repair campaign and a major grant scheme to enable retrofitting of all homes with water saving devices. Along with a vigorous public education campaign, this would result in real water conservation instead of the dishonest attempt to impose a new tax which, in any case, will be resisted with mass action as happened in the ‘Eighties and ‘Nineties.
CHECK OUT OTHER RELATED ARTICLES:
- €600 million to be spent on domestic water meters
- Gormleys Water Charges: Up to €900 a household?
- Water Charges Will Spark A Water War
- Statement from the Campaign in opposition to household and water charges
- Meeting & Discussion – building a new anti-water charges campaign
