True haha!! I worked on a water meter installation contract for agricultural and commercial business in Wexford a few years back. I don’t agree with paying for domestic water as we’ve paid more than most for the bottomless banking hole but meters should be installed. But, we should only be charged if we go over a set quota and the quota should be determined by the amount living in the house etc. I saw many farmers in Wexford leaving power hose taps running for long lengths of time because they were on a fixed rate. When metered they changed their attitude.

The government may say this is environmental but we all know it’s economical.

Are most rural homes on their own wells and those who are on group schemes have metering already in place? Our country cousins are either exempt or already metered!

Don’t vote for parties who support a water tax. Vote for parties who will repeal it .

Do people see whats happening here, home Tax and Water charges , directed by the IMF ensuring we are enslaved to the monetary system for our entire lives.

Jim – the world economy is based on debt. General enslavement happened years ago – were just getting a whipping. It will stop but we’ll still be enslaved.

Most rural houses do not have wells or meters. Some do but most connected to the group water scheme if they could. Clean, reliable water supply. That said I paid 16k to get a water connection as Galway council forced me to upgrade their infrastructure before I could connect and a water connection was a condition of the planning permission. A well was not an option for me, too much limestone so v expensive and smells of rotten eggs (sulphur) not good. I paid for 250m of 3″ pipe, a fire hydrant, air valves, service valves and a €500 custom made stainless bracket to connect to the main. I have paid more than enough already and some. It wasn’t a single property either, I had to upgrade the pipe feeding my lane 5 houses as far as the far side of my site.

I was waiting for Broadband and they sent me a water meter, I am surfing the Net now!

Should run Broadband in with it!

Vote for a party that will abolish water charges. There are alternative avenues such as cuts.

If we have to pay for water then we would have a say in what they are unlawfully putting in to it. What dose the consitution say about our water?

It says we have a right to bodily integrity – which funnily enough was added following a case brought by a woman challenging water fluoridation.. Ryan v AG.

All the other EU nations stopped fluoridation as they deemed it unethical to forcibly medicate the population.. It violates their bodily integrity..
Perhaps it’s time this case was reexamined!

It’s a bit like charging the Spanish for a suntan alright Ryan.

Pathetic really, when you think about it Reada, Of all things the eejits go and try to charge us for the most abundant thing in the country. Like I said they can swing for it. I’v shouldered enough burden of debt. The EU can swing too!

Ryan, you are welcome to avoid it.

Get yourself some water butts or get a well, otherwise you’ll be paying and you’ll be eating your words come 2014.

I can’t see how they can put meters on private wells unless they are willing to accept maintenance and daily running costs,

Ryan, water is still a scarce resource in Ireland and we get less rain than you think : 150-225 days annually. You are paying for the infrastructure and the water not just the water. If you don’t want to get it from the public water main then you can always harvest and store it yourself.

Yep Ryan. And I presume your reference to poisoned water refers to Fluoride. This is often skirted around and ppl who bring it up branded as conspiracy theorists. Why then have nearly every other European country removed it from their water leaving Ireland as one with the highest level in Europe?

There are a lot of reputable scientific studies blaming Ireland’s high levels of Fluoride as a cause of our sometimes 4 times higher levels of different cancers and neurological problems.

I’ll be damned if they’re going to charge me for poisoning my family too.

@Brian Daly, we have already paid for the infrastructure and treatment through our taxes. Only a fool pays for something twice!!!

We all know these charges are being introduced to pay for the bank debt and payments to unsecured Bondholders. It’s time to fight back. We have already taken something like 400 times more debt burden than the average EU country. Now they expect us to pay for something that literally falls from the sky? Get a grip!!!

@Reada, yes it does fall from the sky, but not straight into your glass!

Reada – water infrastructure is being constantly expanded and also has to be maintained. So, no, you haven’t paid for it already. You paid for some of it.

Brian, you’re absolutely right, you’re preaching to the converted, however ignorance is bliss!

Aah Fabio, is that what you’re calling yourself now? I think I recognize you. ;)

Brian. If our taxes don’t cover updating of infrastructure it’s because so much of it is going down the big black banking hole.

Hope I’m not boring you. I know our spineless government us counting on us all getting sick of bondholders and promissory notes speak but I’m quite tenacious re same. I’m not giving them a penny more than I have to while they’re flushing it down the loo.

People are suffering in this country while our Fine Gael led government are scheming up plans to screw us further. They can shag off!

On a point of information Steve, no one is being charged water rates for water sourced from one’s own well. Only water sourced from public mains operated by a Local Authority is being charged for under the new system. Because no matter how you get your water otherwise, be it bored well or private group water scheme, it’s already costing you something!

@Brian, fabio.. If the infrastructure was being maintained as you say, water would not be a scarce commodity in Ireland. The fact is that it isn’t and hasn’t been; past taxes that should have gone towards the maintenance have been squandered elsewhere by corrupt governments, resulting in a sizeable proportion of our water supply pissing away into the ground through poorly maintained, Victorian-era piping systems..
This problem is unlikely to be addressed by way of water taxes collected in the future; our corrupt, dishonest government will continue to misappropriate funds and our water will continue to piss away just like our taxes..

@fabio.. you’re not comparing like with like.. the UK’s taxation system and the services provided to citizens in return for their tax contributions are not even a bir similar to Ireland..

We are already paying for water this is a double charge. We live on a wet sponge if water can’t be managed when there is a over abundance how is a meter and extra taxes going to improve things.

Can you link to the scientific papers you mentioned. Genuinely want a read.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-21273168

I am taking this government to court in order to reverse the mandatory fluoridation of our water. Check out my facebook site The Girl Against Fluoride. I have a full legal team backing me. The meters they want to install are smart meters that work on microwave radiation. They have been banned for their use in several areas in California. There are no proper safety tests made on them. Check them out. They have no right to interfere with our health.

I’m wondering about this too. Where will they be taking measurements from? Outside on the way in, outside on the way out, before or after the split, etc..
In the UK I saw a few people on BBCs Watchdog complaining that they were charged for rainwater passing through the meter as it was measured on water leaving the premises.

If its to be metered outside what if the house is split into flats? Or as you point out, apartment blocks.

Lots of questions – and so far, very little answers..

Of course the funny though about it all is most people will pay for bottled water but have an issue paying for tap water.

In the vast majority of cases tap water is equal to if not better then bottled water, it also costs 1000’s % less even if you do pay any sort of water charges.

People expect free water so they can use and abuse it, but yet it costs money to acquire it and get it to people’s homes. Should we also expect free electric and heating?

Here Barry, Ive got your coat for you.

Barry is drinking way too much flouridey water. I’d like to see some reports of the tests that were carried out that made you come to that conclusion! I will not pay for poisoned water.

Is Barry being serious or is he taking the p!ss? Surely he isn’t serious.

A bottle of water is about the same price as a liter of fuel, yet people think this valuable resource should be free!?Get a grip!

Are you buying it in brown thomas, 10ltrs €1.29. Would not let my children drink what comes out of the tap.

No Sean, check out the price of a 750 m/1 Liter ballyg, Deep R etc and you’ll notice that there isn’t much of a price imbalance. No one is forcing your kids to drink out of the tap!-reduced consumption=reduced bill there you go!

The only reason I buy bottled water is because I rent and can’t fit a reverse osmosis filter to my mains supply.

I would rather be able to drink my tap water, but besides the fluoride it smells like a swimming pool and I can taste the chlorine – that’s not especially healthy either..
Why exactly would you pay for it?

Ryan O….I presume youre not using any of that poisoned water. So you wont have to pay anything. Relax.

His boss is going to make millions installing the meters

I like it spud man !!

Drought? That word is not even in the Irish English Dictionary!

Well say your tank had capacity for a month and no rain or insufficient rain fell in a month in your immediate vicinity.

Not impossible.

Generally when you do this, you still consider the captured rainwater contaminated. You can use uv filters to kill off most of the bacteria, but unless you are willing to boil your water before use you shouldn’t really be using it as potable water. You could however run washing machine and toilets off the captured water, as well as watering you garden (if we ever get a summer where that is necessary) or other outdoor uses. Seeing as there is going to be an allowance of water before the charges kick in, it could be a viable way to get your monthly usage below that.

I’ve been looking at this on and off for a few years and apparently sand filters are the thing for making rainwater drinkable.

It’s doable.

But as you say, if you use the allowance to drink and do the excess from the harvested water … could it work?

How much would setting that sort of thing up cost? Is anyone qualified to estimate?

My folks have a rainfall harvesting system in place. All comes off the roof into an underground tank. Used for non-potable purposes only – bathing and toilet flushing. Drinking water comes in from a well to one tap in the kitchen. If they were in an urban area they would only be taking this amount from the public system.

However, you do need space for an underground tank (water best stored underground) and roof real estate to collect the waters. There’s also some pumps and tech required to move water into your cistern in the attic.

It’s not unusual in either summer or winter for the underground tank to run dry. So that debunks anybody who thinks we have plenty of rainfall.

They can’t charge you for what you harvested from your roof and use (unless the meter is on the drains!).

I have heard that in the UK, people who sink their own well have to pay for a water extraction charge. So that catches the country people.

@ Damocles,

Yes it will work. In fact Farmers here were getting grants up to 12 months ago for Rainwater harvesting. It’s extremely common in Australia and from a business perspective very lucrative. Filtering water for drinking is extremely expensive and probably something you should shelve for now and use bottled or boiled water for straight drinking. The idea of using your allowance for drinking is OK but long term the charge for connection to the network will increase and the allowance will disappear altogether. Water is now commercial just like Gas and electricity so it’s best to plan for complete independance

@ Damocles,

Kingspan were either providing systems or tanks at one stage ( may still be doing it) They were aimed at commercial rather than domestic

If someone does try this (I can’t, my wife would not be overjoyed if I dug up the entire garden) could they blog about it please? I’d love to read about such a project from start to finish.

John, John and Brian, thanks for all the info.

Damocles – it’s a big undertaking but you get your garden back after you bury the tank and pipes. Parents project was a big success though they had a lot of problems with the pump system. Changed to a less sophisticated pump control and it works great.

Thomas, have you other metered services – gas? ESB? These are both metered services that are read by the owners, estimated and occasionally checked by official staff. Where’s the paper trail?

What about other services – cable, Sky, phone …..

It does work. Commission for Energy Regulation carried out a Smart Metering trial (same principle) worked perfectly-two way data. It works fantastically, check it out!-All your data fed into a central data base-trail and always on record! Elec Smart Meters are the way forward.

Flat rate like the current system causes wastage. Best to have an allowance and then pay per litre.

You just look at the meter and read it. I’m sure like all meters, they get certified through weights and measures people. I have zero idea if any of my esb or gas meters are correct. I just have to hope that they are.

Is the meter not under ground??

The meters will probably be covered but they won’t be buried. If they are digital then they will probably be battery powered, so they need to be accessible for that anyway.

The costs of water services was about 1.2 billion euros in 2010.

http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/Environment/Water/FileDownLoad,29192,en.pdf

BS! How come most other countries around the EU have introduced these water charges, and they’re paying off these infamous bondholders!? An Elec Smart metering roll out (similar to water) would cost 1,2 billion according to the CER trial, so presumable it’ll be less. I long for the day when people gradually ween themselves off blaming everything on Anglo, bondholders, property developers, Henry’s handball etc.

We already have water charges fabio, always have. The charge for running our water supply is collected through general taxation. It is the stealing of that money to pay bankers losses which has resulted in our government holding their hands out twice for the same charge, which is unacceptable.

So you’re telling me that during the ‘boom years’ everyone would have been happy to shell out?-don’t think so, it would have been another excuse, paying for Mary Harney’s trip to Florida etc. Either way it’s the same ‘i’m not paying brigade’.

“So you’re telling me that during the ‘boom years’ everyone would have been happy to shell out?”

Where did I say that? Are you just trolling or something.

Although more people may have been in a position to pay, I don’t reckon anybody would be happy to pay twice for the same service.

No absolutely not, remember those Bin Tax protests??Where are all those protesters now?That’s right, they realised that it’s expensive to dispose of Municipal Solid Waste similarly it costs to manage a water resource.

Look at your neighbours in the UK , council tax, water tax etc

flute..

Good question Stephen, wondering myself as well and I’m surprised nobody else does

Vote for a party who will repeal water charges.

No water then that is the catch. Although I thought that is a human rights issue.

Fools government minister O’Dowd has stated no one will be cut off for non payment,so how that will encourage people to pay is curious.

@Norman probably deduct from wages for thoese working.

Really?

Water charges will likely be abolished by SF if elected in 2016. They have vowed to repeal water charges.

If you payed the household charge? then yes you def will be paying!That was their method to gather everyone’s information, and now they’ll have the name of the householder so there won’t be a way around it.

Water costs a lot of money Darren and we don’t collect enough taxes to cover the costs of running the country. And you’re a teacher Darren!

Reg are you stalking Darren?not very nice if you are.

No Norman, Darren says he’s a teacher on his Twitter profile.

Fail to see the revelence of his occupation,but hey that’s just me.

Maybe I expected more thoughtful posts from people who’s salaries are partially funded with significant borrowings from abroad. And yes we’d still be borrowing the money even if there had been no bank guarantee.

I’m with you, Darren. I won’t by paying. End of.

What does being a teacher have to do with anything? If occupation bothers you, share your occupation then and let others judge. So will you be first to pay reg? I’m sure you will :) ;) Good boy :)

I run a business where I am well used to paying water charges Darren. Don’t have a problem paying for them at home either. Many people have to pay for their own water in Ireland and I don’t see why those on the public system should get it without paying for it directly. I believe water should be paid for, it promotes conservation.

You cant even cut a slice of bread and you a teacher!

Aren’t you lucky you had teachers to educate you, enabling you to have your own business ;)
Enjoy paying your water bill ;)

Well you know what they say Darren; those that can do, and those that can’t……..teach! ;-)

I dunno.. I had no respect for teachers when I was at school but think about it – would you like to try and convey the junior or leaving cert syllabus to 30-40 teenagers at a time?
Then do all your course plans, marking, and all the other paperwork, meetings etc – I’d imagine its pretty exhausting, and frustrating.. I have a lot more respect for teachers now that I’ve tried to imagine having to do their job and remembering what my classes in school were like.

I don’t think teaching is something failures do, I think a good teacher who inspires interest in a subject, is quite a gifted individual.

A hate-based policy is not the answer. Vote for parties who will repeal it . Water charges should be ABOLISHED for everyone.