The Irish Farmers' Association Regional Vice President, Michael Silke, has said farmers will not pay excessive and unjust charges for water under schemes being considered by a number of local authorities.
He said local authorities are seeking to impose charges for installing and maintaining water meters which will discriminate against farmers with fragmented holdings, who will face multiple meter costs, resulting in excessive on-going water service bills.
'In a number of cases, the meter installation and servicing costs will exceed the water usage costs. There has been no recognition of the impact of these charges on farmers with fragmented holdings,' he added.
Mr Silke criticised the costs included in charging schemes to cover the high levels of leakage of water from local authority water supply networks.
'Under no circumstances should farmers and other non-domestic users pay for water losses from pipes and networks, even before the supply eventually arrives at the farmer customer.
'The entire costs of this water wastage should be borne by local authorities from central funds,' he added.
Mr Silke confirmed that the IFA has met with senior Department of the Environment officials and has sought an urgent meeting with the Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, to resolve the matter.
