March 12th, 2024
A 170km pipeline is planned to extract water from the Parteen Basin on the River Shannon in northern Tipperary. This initiative aims to address the anticipated economic growth in Dublin.
Some six years ago, in April 2018, when Zero Waste Alliance Ireland wrote to the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, with our observations on the draft Water Services Policy Statement for what was then Irish Water, now Uisce Éireann, we commented on a proposal which is once again making news headlines. Dublin City Council and other Eastern Region local authorities first proposed as early as the year 2006 to abstract water from the River Shannon and build a 270 km long pipeline to Dublin, to augment Dublin’s failing water supply. We said that this would be a huge and very costly project to implement, with continuing high costs of pumping and treating the water from the River Shannon for many decades to come.
Leakage rates? 45% to be Precise.
As an organisation, and an environmental NGO, devoted to saving resources and using scarce resources most efficiently, we were horrified by many aspects of the Dublin local authorities’ proposal. For example, potential savings from the introduction of conservation measures and from increasing public awareness of the value of clean water were dismissed as being “difficult to quantify” and were not taken into account; leakage rates from the water distribution network were higher than those in almost any other EU member state, the Dublin local authorities (and subsequently Irish Water, Uisce Éireann) had only minor ambitions to reduce these leakages, and the leakage rates quoted did not take into account the loss of water in customers premises such as homes, offices, shops and other businesses. Overall, it appeared that some “45% of all water entering the supply” is lost.
The Office of Licensing and Guidance in the EPA was quite critical of the proposed pipeline, and referred to the Waste Prevention Section of the EPA website which provided a link to water conservation measures, and the EPA asked for the preparation of a water conservation strategy for the Greater Dublin Area. In our submission, we pointed to, and described, many suitable water conservation measures in other cities which could relatively easily be implemented, and which would yield significant water demand reduction; and while these might be costly to begin with, they would result in major cost savings over time. We quoted one example where the government of a city in the United States (Goleta, California) had distributed free of charge to citizens simple water saving devices, at a total cost of $1.5 million, which had reduced water consumption by 40%, with the result that the city did not have to construct a new multi-million dollar water supply and treatment plant.
What were Zero Waste Alliance’s Proposals?
We suggested, for example, that a much more ambitious programme is needed to reduce leakage and eliminate as far as possible the enormous waste of water; we stated that the proposed pipeline is not the only viable option, as asserted by Uisce Éireann, and if leakage rates were to be reduced, a national strategy for water conservation were to be implemented, rainwater use and grey-water reuse were to be encouraged and financially supported, all new homes and some existing homes were to be made more water efficient, and a proportion of the water supply were to be abstracted from a very large groundwater aquifer in the northern part of County Dublin, there would be absolutely no need for the proposed pipeline!
When we examined the costs of the proposed pipeline, we were horrified by the failure of Irish Water to include in its total costs for the project the enormous cost of treating the increased volume of wastewater which would be produced by bringing an additional 350 million litres per day of water to Dublin. This was an astounding omission, given that the Ringsend wastewater treatment works, which had cost €297 million (2011 prices, VAT exclusive), and began operating in June 2003; but within two years it had to be extended and upgraded, as it was overloaded from day one (a plant that was supposed to have sufficient capacity until 2020 was over-capacity in 2002, partly due to miscalculation of the commercial load), and it did not meet the EU Wastewater Treatment Directive standards. The miscalculation resulted in the need for an additional expenditure of a further €147.3 million (2011 prices, VAT exclusive), together with some €40 million on odour alleviation measures, which had to be paid by Dublin City Council and the Irish taxpayer !
Dismissed Proposals: Our Frustration Echoes Among Many
We were not surprised that most of our cost-saving and water demand reduction measures were ignored by Uisce Éireann, and that the current proposal has attracted equivalent criticism from Dr Matt Crowe, Chairman of An Fóram Uisce (Irish Times, Saturday 09 March) and from Dr Emma Kennedy (Sunday Business Post, 10 March). Dr Crowe echoed our earlier proposal, that the building regulations should be revised to make new homes more water efficient; and ZWAI has suggested more recently that new houses and apartments should be rated on a scale which reflects the efficiency of water use in that house or apartment. So, for example, a house with rainwater use, grey water reuse, water-saving toilets and showers, etc, would receive an “A” rating, similar to the energy rating currently in use.
Zero Waste Alliance Ireland also agrees with Dr Crowe that mandatory standards for fixtures and fittings should be introduced in new developments, and there should be a “commitment from Government and water suppliers to proactively support water conservation action in homes and businesses”. We also agree with Emma Kennedy’s point, when she refers to Uisce Éireann stating that replacing old and leaky water distribution pipes is “inconvenient”; and she says that “replacing the pipes is inconvenient is a bit like saying keeping my car fixed is inconvenient … having your pipes burst three of four times a month is inconvenient” !
Pipeline: Branded as Sole Solution, Yet Alternatives DO Exist.
Which brings us almost to our final point, that much of our water supply problems today are due to lack of maintenance and lack of investment in the infrastructure which supplies water to the Eastern region of Ireland, and also to many Irish towns. Given Ireland’s extremely good balance of payments and budget surpluses in recent decades, together with low ECB interest rates on borrowings for infrastructure improvements and maintenance, it seems to us extremely foolish and incompetent to leave our water supply infrastructure in such a poor condition.
Our final argument is that if leakage rates were to be reduced, a national strategy for water conservation were to be robustly implemented, rainwater use and grey-water reuse were to be strongly encouraged and financially supported, all new homes and some existing homes were to be made more water efficient, and a proportion of the water supply were to be abstracted from a very large groundwater aquifer in the northern part of County Dublin, there would be absolutely no need for the proposed pipeline!
Jack O’Sullivan
Zero Waste Alliance Ireland
12 March 2024