Munster Express Online

The Kilkenny county water supply system, controlled and managed by the local authority, has come in for attention in recent weeks as more and more of the supply is being lost through poor management of the system.

It was reported at the weekend in the national papers that 43% of the country’s supply leaks away into the ground, with one newspaper putting the figure even higher.

When the council have repaired the leaks caused by the recent freeze, one would hope that (in light of reports on the shortage of available water in the future), that they would consider charging for water while removing the charge from refuse collection. If such a charge was introduced, people would be more conservative in their usage; for example, flushing toilets, we are told, makes up 30% of all domestic use, so if smaller amounts of water could be used it would help greatly.

By charging for water, but not for rubbish collections, one would hopefully remove the increasing incidence of people throwing their rubbish away on country roads and beauty spots. This problem must be tackled as it is blighting the beautiful landscape that we love; even the most picturesque and scenic places, remote as they are, are now been used for tipping out one’s domestic rubbish. We repeat: if a free service was available, this would not happen.

So charge for water and institute free refuse collections: in the long term, it will be a lot better for us all.