Rain harvesting could reduce water bills

IRISH water could save millions of euro if the new utility company promoted rainwater harvesting according to a local election candidate.

Andrew Keegan, who’s running in the new Ballymun ward for People Before Profit (PBP), is currently involved in installing rainwater collection systems in domestic homes in Dublin.

He says the average home uses between 150-180 litres of water day but only 20 litres are used for drinking and cooking.

Harvested rainwater systems can be costly to install but reduce household consumption by up to 50 per cent. It’s likely new building regulations will be introduced over the coming months to make water conservation systems compulsory in new buildings.

However, Keegan believes that little has been done to tackle the wastage of water in Dublin and is calling for a grant aid scheme to retrofit homes with harvesting systems.

“Say a home uses 150 litres of water a day, over 50,000 litres a year,

? he said.

“So lets say a quarter of the housing stock can be retrofitted with rain water harvesting, which is 250,000 homes approximately, and with a grant aid of $1,000 that would help produce about 37 and a half million litres a day for the water system in urban areas.

?

Keegan says the initiative would create thousands of jobs and the system would pay for itself within a decade.

“If homes can be insulated using a grant aid project then rainwater harvesting can be facilitated in the same way,

? he added.

“Government incentive is required but it’s a lot cheaper than fixing the unsustainable pipe network across the country.

?

Last month Irish Water outlined its overall plan for water services in a submission to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment. The new body acknowledged there were water capacity issues in Dublin and warned that the issue could be constraint on economic development.

Irish Water said the long-term solution is a new source of water for Dublin, which is targeted to be delivered in seven years, but it believes resources can be managed until then.

“Irish Water will have a dedicated programme focused on maximising production from existing plants and accelerating leakage savings,

? the submission reads.

“In Dublin, this will deliver annual incremental increases in spare water capacity of 1-2 per cent up to 2021 which will ensure that the capital’s water supply increases in line with population growth and economic demands.

?

Irish Water says a major source project for Dublin will need to come on line from 2021 to deliver secure supply in line with international best practice.

The utility company has begun work on a plan to pump 350 million litres of water a day from the River Shannon to serve the capital’s drinking water needs.

The plan, based on a report drawn up in 2006, was initially driven by Dublin City Council before Irish Water took over responsibility for the project.

l Andrew Keegan will be speaking at a public meeting organised by People Before Profit titled

‘Our Water: Not For Sale’ at Axis Ballymun on Thursday, March 6 at 8pm.