Dublin Ireland: a city addressing challenging water supply, management, and governance issues

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The population of Dublin City and its suburbs currently stands at 1.3 million and is projected to reach 2.1 million by 2022. There is pressure on its water supply system (inadequate catchment sources, ageing infrastructure including treatment facilities, and distribution network) with little or no spare capacity despite Ireland's relatively high rainfall that is well distributed throughout the year; albeit the greatest rainfall occurs in the west and southwest and at some remove from Dublin. The current governance approach to addressing the projected water supply deficit relies heavily on a combination of identifying new supply sources to secure the long-term water supply needs of the city together with an intense drive toward achieving "demand-side" reduced usage and conservation targets in accordance with EU benchmarks for various individual and sectoral users. This potentially emerging crisis of water scarcity in Dublin, with drivers including population growth, greater industrial and institutional demands, migration, and climate change, has generated one of the most significant public water works projects proposed in Irish history, which is to abstract raw water from the Shannon River Basin in the midland region and, following treatment, pump it to a storage reservoir in a cut-away bog before piping to the Greater Dublin Area. The preparations for this scheme have brought to the forefront some longstanding Irish water resources governance issues and challenges. This provides a unique opportunity and imperative at this time to take a more comprehensive look at the decision-making process in this regard, one done in the context of new European and national policies requiring incorporation of integrated planning to sustain ecosystem services, water resources management, water services management, and flood defense principles, and one taking account of the current unprecedented state of flux in which water resources management institutions in Ireland, and in particular Dublin, find themselves following years of unconsolidated legislation and stand-alone institutions.Key Words: demand management; Dublin; full cost recovery; governance; water supply INTRODUCTIONThe population of the greater Dublin area (GDA) is projected to grow significantly over the coming decades from its current 1.3 million. Somewhere in the region of 550 million liters per day of water are currently required (for domestic water supply alone usage is in the range 140 to 150 liters per person per day) and it is estimated that if demand behavior/culture remains relatively unchanged and factors such as population growth, migration/urbanization, climate change, and innovation/ technological balance regarding supply/demand are considered, this figure will increase to 800 million liters per day by 2031 (Dublin City Council 2010a). There is pressure on the current water supply infrastructure to meet ever-increasing demand with little or no spare capacity, despite the fact that Ireland has relatively high rainfall that is well distributed th...

Efficacy of a national hydrological risk communication strategy: Domestic wastewater treatment systems in the Republic of Ireland

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Irish Water and Scottish Water: A Comparison

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“…Journal of Water Resource and Protection ment; however, the financial crisis in recent decades means this source of revenue has been constrained. External financing is available in the form of grants, borrowing and shareholder capital (Blacklocke et al, 2014 [17]; Fitzgerald, 2018 [18]). However, Scottish Water has no access to share capital and is less than 10% funded by the Scottish Government.…”

Urban water governance in times of multiple stressors: an editorial

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