Uisce Éireann has said that the new housing targets included in the Programme for Government for the completion of 300,000 new housing units by 2030 present several challenges and that it is seeking additional support from the Government to address these.
Earlier this week, the Chairman of Uisce Éireann said the State's water and sewage systems are in a desperate state because of extraordinary complacency and passive indifference.
Last autumn, Uisce Éireann submitted and received approval from the Government for its Strategic Funding Plan.
This included a commitment to invest €10.3 billion in critical water infrastructure between 2025 and 2029.
This was the amount of money it estimated would be required to deliver the necessary drinking water and wastewater infrastructure needed to support the delivery of 33,000 housing units per year.
That was the housing building target set under the Housing for All programme, assuming the capacity is taken up in serviced towns.
Since then, however, the housing target has almost doubled to 300,000 units in the new Programme for Government.
Also, the commitment in the Programme for Government is for half of those new houses to be constructed in the Greater Dublin area (GDA).
Uisce Éireann said that presents several challenges for it, and as a result, it is seeking further support from the Government.
They are now asking for a further €1.7 billion in funding to be ring-fenced and made available for building the essential new water infrastructure to enable housing and economic growth in key strategic development areas.
Uisce Éireann has consistently stated that progressing water and wastewater infrastructure is crucial to economic development, protecting the environment, and the provision of much needed housing.
Speaking at a conference organised by the Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland (RIAI) on Tuesday, Chairman of Uisce Éireann Jerry Grant said the new higher housing targets could not be met without a new approach from the Government and leadership from the very top, in relation to water infrastructure.
Mr Grant told that conference that it was very poorly understood and very often misrepresented, but that Uisce Éireann does not have a mandate to provide for future housing growth.
He said the utility's €10.3 billion five-year Strategic Funding Plan was designed to achieve water and wastewater compliance, replace ageing and failing assets, and build resilience in the drinking and wastewater systems.
Uisce Éireann said that there also needs to be improvements in the planning and consenting processes to enable it to deliver critical infrastructure upgrades in a timely manner.
It said it is particularly keen to see appropriate planning exemptions in the proposed new planning regulations that would help it to deliver schemes faster.
It underscored again that the water supply in the Greater Dublin area is on a knife edge and struggling to meet the challenges of a growing population and economy.
It is expected that non-domestic water demand in the East and Midlands Region of the country will grow by 73% by 2050, while the population will rise by a quarter.
This will result in a very significant increase in water required for housing and a big demand for additional capacity.
The company warned that the water infrastructure in the region was essentially developed for 500,000 people but is now serving a population three times that size and growing.
In his comments to the RIAI, Mr Grant highlighted a single water supply pipe from the Ballymore Eustace water treatment plant in Co Wicklow serves about 40% of Dublin.
The point he was making was that leaves the water supply in the greater Dublin region very highly exposed to a single point of failure.
Uisce Éireann’s plan to address the water supply crisis in the greater Dublin region is to bring water from the Shannon at the Parteen basin.
It is called the "Water Supply Project, east and midlands" and if completed, Uisce Éireann said it will ensure it can continue to provide Dublin, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow with a resilient, safe, and secure water supply for the foreseeable future.
Future connections along the project’s "spine" will service communities in North Tipperary, Offaly, and Westmeath.
It will also facilitate the redirection of water currently supplying Dublin to Louth, Meath, Kildare, Carlow, and Wicklow.
All in all, this project will directly benefit 2.5 million people across the country and support sustainable growth across the region.
The Government signed off on the project to go to planning last year and the company is now progressing with an application to An Bord Pleanála.
Wastewater infrastructure is equally important in terms of supporting housing and economic growth.
Continued population growth and increased commercial activity mean the volume of wastewater generated in greater Dublin is projected to increase by more than 50% over the next 30 years.
In this regard the proposed Greater Dublin Drainage project will be critical to unlocking the wastewater capacity constraints within the Greater Dublin area to cater for growth.
This project involves the transfer of the wastewater loads from the north and west of the greater Dublin area to a new wastewater treatment plant on a 30-hectare site at Clonshaugh in north county Dublin.
The construction of this new plant could then release capacity at the Ringsend wastewater treatment plant for growth in the remaining areas of the region.
The proposed new treatment plant in Clonshaugh will have the capacity for up to 500,000 people and will be served by a new regional sewer.
It was the strategic answer to the shortage of wastewater capacity that was identified 20 years ago.
When Uisce Éireann applied for planning permission for the construction of the Greater Dublin Drainage scheme in 2018, the cost of the project was estimated to be in the region of €650 million.
Planning permission was granted in November 2019.
However, since then, the project has been set back following a judicial review challenge in January 2020.
Because of this delay, the estimated cost of completing the project has now doubled. It is now estimated at €1.3 billion, according to the company Chairman.
In the meantime, the development of new housing in north and west Dublin has been stymied because major house building cannot be permitted to go ahead without the provision of adequate wastewater infrastructure.
The Greater Dublin Drainage project has now been in the planning system for nearly seven years.
When the application was originally lodged in 2018, Uisce Éireann expected it would be completed and operational by 2025.
As a result of the ongoing planning delays, it is now believed that, at best, the project may be delivered and operational by 2032.
Wastewater treatment capacity is clearly a major issue for the Greater Dublin area, and the situation will deteriorate further in the coming years as the Ringsend Wastewater Treatment Plant approaches its upgraded capacity.
Uisce Éireann said the delay in the delivery of the wastewater project in north Dublin means it will have to consider restricting new connections to its network serving the northern and western environs of the Greater Dublin area.
The company says there needs to be improvements in the planning and consenting processes to allow it to deliver infrastructure and upgrades in a timely manner.
It is particularly keen to see appropriate planning exemptions in the proposed new planning regulations that would help to deliver schemes faster.
