Sir, – I have avoided participating in the various campaigns on this issue; clean water costs money to supply, and deserves economical use. Metering is basically a good idea, as it discourages waste. I have, however, been appalled by the way metering policy has been imposed, with intrusive installation of an inaccessible meter at what must be a high cost. Has no-one system-analysed the options?
My initial concept was an accessible, legible meter at the house entry-point, usually the hallway, enabling a householder to keep tabs on house-water use easily. This idea of accessible house-based metering was rejected in favour of ripping up the footpath and installing a meter readable by the householder only with difficulty, if at all.
The reason given was that leakage in the in-pipe is a householder responsibility. This seems to me to be a high-cost solution to a low-cost problem.
It should be possible for a meter on a branch of the main system to keep track of the consumption in a group of houses served by the branch. This could be matched statistically with the consumption as recorded in the houses. A discrepancy would imply a leak. During a dry spell, portable instrumentation could be used to detect leak water locations, and the leak repaired. If the leak is in a house-feed pipe, the user would be charged a fee.
Would it perhaps be possible to pilot a system like this, in some area as yet unserviced, and keep an eye on the comparative costs, and user acceptance? – Yours, etc,
ROY H W JOHNSTON,
Rathmines Park,
Dublin 6.