We can’t have it both ways on water supply

IT IS chastening to remember that scarcely a few months back we were freezing in the clutches of the Beast from the East, and not long before that rivers were bursting their banks in record rainfalls. Here we are today contemplating the impact of water restrictions. Conservation and responsible usage can save us from a lot of extra hardship. The hosepipe ban for the Greater Dublin Area is likely to be just one of a number of measures we can expect across the country as the hot spell continues.

Many of those people who marched and strenuously protested at the prospect of water charges, which might deliver the necessary funding model to guarantee a secure and constant water supply into the future, are now complaining vociferously about the drought. We simply can’t have it both ways. Water comes at a price and the billions required for investment will not fall from the heavens.

It seems absurd that we could have come from being deluged to drought in such a short time. Kicking the watering can down the road was always going to come back to haunt.

Right now the elderly, the sick and people with livestock and crops at risk, must be foremost in our thinking. More emergency steps may well be required, but sensible use as opposed to abuse can make a big difference.