Water charges help us respect a scarce resource
Smart measures can help households and improve Ireland’s water supply problems
A rat feasts on sewage: Almost a million people are served by 121 water treatment plants officially classified as “at risk”. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth
Putting a price on water prompts us not to waste it, decreasing the overall amount that must be treated and pumped. Remove water charging and the financial incentive to use water sparingly is gone. Other taxes would need to rise to cover the higher volumes of water that need to be supplied. A likely outcome of removing the charges would be that more money would be needed than was previously collected through water charging.
