New water charges

SimpleSam06

Has anyone else heard rumours about the council introducing new water charges in Galway? Apparently they are hacked off at the loss of revenue from the waste handling charges, courtesy of the city bin company, so they are charging people for water use, setting up a metering system and the lot! What I heard was that up to a certain amount of water, theres no charge, but after that, you will be receiving a bill along with the ESB.

This is off the grapevine mind you, but I got home the last day to find a large drain cover in the back garden sitting open as well. Never mind that it would be like charging for sand in the Sahara, does any other county levy water charges?

JohnCleary

Heh, like the African's tapping oil lines, we'll be tapping our neighbour's water mains!

stevecrow74

JohnCleary wrote:

we'll be tapping our neighbour's water mains!

you should see the water system where i live... we are all tapped of a neighbours house...

kevmy

Out the country everybodies charged for the water and they have to maintain it themselves or they're cut off. Some people are charged double or triple depending if they've got land or a large number of sheds. If it was happening in Dublin we wouldn't hear the end of it. And then idiots going to jail for not paying bin charges that they were always supposed to pay.

gerryo

SimpleSam06 wrote:

Has anyone else heard rumours about the council introducing new water charges in Galway? Apparently they are hacked off at the loss of revenue from the waste handling charges, courtesy of the city bin company, so they are charging people for water use, setting up a metering system and the lot! What I heard was that up to a certain amount of water, theres no charge, but after that, you will be receiving a bill along with the ESB.

There would have to be a meter outside every house, connected between the house & the mains supply, = lots of work retrofitting them in old houses.

Not sure if new housing estates or apartments have them already, but many county water schemes have them or have an "easy-fit" option already installed.

You can blame the EU, they insist all water should be charged for, as it's a scarce resource, although not in the WoI).

I say if we pay for water in Ireland, then the Med countries should pay for sunshine, they get more than we do.

Same goes for rain here, it's our duty to use water, stop the county becoming waterlogged.

SimpleSam06

gerryo wrote:

I say if we pay for water in Ireland, then the Med countries should pay for sunshine, they get more than we do.

Same goes for rain here, it's our duty to use water, stop the county becoming waterlogged.

Just doing our bit to prevent sea level rises! In fact they should pay us for our services. I smell an EU grant in there somewhere...

The thing I find most annoying about this (if its true) is they are doing it because they couldn't compete with the private sector. Or rather they could but felt people should be loyal to the council, or something equally demented. So the "punishment" is water charges.

Anyone know the proper procedure to have a councillor removed from office before the end of his term?

galah

Just go to Germany - you'll find your not only charged for water into the house, but also waste water, and in some counties there's even a charge on the RAIN WATER falling on your ground per square meter (the 'logic' behind this charge is that the rain water then needs to be transported through the council pipes - that's why...). No kidding. We've had it way too good here, and people are wasting water like mad - time we pay for it, and think about how we use water...

gerryo

galah wrote:

...and in some counties there's even a charge on the RAIN WATER falling on your ground per square meter (the 'logic' behind this charge is that the rain water then needs to be transported through the council pipes - that's why...). No kidding.

Insanity!, how do you quantify that?
What about the amount the plants use up.

With climate change, the charges must be getting higher every year.

Suppose you were to electrolyse the water (split into H2 & O) & then burn it in your car or furnace, do you get a rebate?

I know it would take more energy to do that, but it's the principle

What next, charges for breathable air?

Many of the most insane & laughable taxes & levies are EU ideas that just won't implement well across all member countries.

JohnCleary

Fu(ked if the council think im paying for water when I live less than a mile away from the 2nd largest lake in the country which floods for about 4 months of the year

SimpleSam06

galah wrote:

We've had it way too good here, and people are wasting water like mad - time we pay for it, and think about how we use water...

Thats the kind of thinking that seems to have migrated from the western US, where there actually are water shortages. Go go Hollywood. There is zero justification for levying water charges in the west of Ireland. I can maybe see it out the countreh where an isolated farm might have to have a seperate system installed, but even that should only be a once off charge.

Wasting water indeed.

And I was actually being serious, if some civil servant tries to get this pushed through, I for one will be demanding to see both their accounts, where all this money is going (any bets on most of it going to councillors' salaries and expenses?), and the proper statutory way to get councillors removed from office, since they are clearly representing their own interests and not those of their constituents.

Local government is not meant to be a profitable business, although the recent waste handling debacle might lead you to believe otherwise.