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THE OIREACHTAS COMMITTEE on water published its final report a fortnight ago, after months of contentious debate, and amid ongoing controversy.
One of the major provisions in the report was that the 2007 Water Services Act should be amended so that “incentives, levies or other measures” can be deployed against the “excessive use” of water.
The threshold for excessive use, the committee said, should be set at 1.7 times the average household use, but this must take into account that the average consumption per person is 133 litres per day.
Is that really what the average individual in Ireland uses each day? And where did that figure come from?
In this FactFind, we’ll examine the committee’s now-famous figure of 133 litres per person per day, and look at some of the best estimates for average water usage in Ireland.
In calculating average water use, there are two major decisions to make: whether you include houses with or without leaks, and whether you use the mean or median. We’ll take a look at all of these.
In a submission to the Oireachtas Committee, the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) estimated that, including outliers (that is, households with water use so high it’s likely to be cause by leaks), the average (mean) consumption per household from April-June 2016 was 349 litres per day.
April-June 2016 is the most recent period for which figures are available.
According to the CER, the average household contained 2.6 people, which means the average (mean) consumption per person was around 133 litres per day.
That’s the source of the Oireachtas Committee’s much publicised figure.
However, it has to be noted that household size figures are based on 2014 Irish Water registrations, so they are three years old, and based on self-reporting.
The median household usage was 260 litres per day.
The median is the level that half of households are above, and half are below. It is often a more reliable indicator of normal use than the mean, because it mitigates against outliers at either end of the scale.
This average (median) works out as exactly 100 litres per person per day.
In the same document (on page 3), the CER presented consumption figures that included only houses with leak alarms installed, and so excluded households that use so much water it’s likely (though not certain) to be caused by leaks.
When you exclude leaks, the average (mean) consumption was 282 litres per household per day. This works out as roughly 108 litres per person per day.
Median consumption, meanwhile, was 249 litres per household per day, which roughly equates to 96 litres per person per day.
The committee has decided that there should be a charge or levy where a household uses 1.7 times the average.
Both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have claimed that any charge or levy for wasteful or excessive use would only apply to 8% of households.
Fianna Fáil’s Housing and Environment spokesperson Barry Cowen said “92% of people, plus, will never receive a bill again”.
And in a statement, Fine Gael claimed: “The excessive usage/water wastage definition currently applies to 8% of households…”
The source of this figure is again data presented to the committee by the CER, and available here.
So we’ve taken the average consumption figures we presented above (mean and median use, including and excluding leaks), and applied some calculations to figure out how many households would be 1.7 times above all four measures of average use.
Mean
As you can see, the average used by the Committee – 133 litres per person per day – means that just under 8% of households would have consumption of 1.7 times the average, or above.
This works out as around 68,000 households, based on April-June 2016 figures that include leaks. However, this is the lowest estimate of the four averages.
If you exclude leaks from the calculations, around 76,000 households would fall into the “excessive use” category – some 8.6% of households.
The rationale behind excluding leaks from the figures is that this may give a fairer picture of normal average household water use, as opposed to simply what a water meter counts as being used, even if leaks are partly responsible for it.
Furthermore, as leaks continue to be fixed, average consumption including leaks will naturally begin to move closer to average consumption without leaks.
So excluding leaks from the calculations now may give a better sense of what average use (and therefore excessive use) might end up being in future.
Median
As the table above shows, using median household consumption, as opposed to the mean, has a significant effect on the number of households that would fall into the “excessive use” category, if that threshold were set at 1.7 times the median.
Remember that median consumption is the level of consumption that 50% of households are above and 50% are below. It can often give a better picture of normal usage, because it mitigates against extremely high or low consumption levels.
If we include leaks in our calculations, an estimated 168,000 households would fall into the category of “excessive use” – that is, 1.7 times the median, or more.
That works out as around 19% of the estimated 880,000 metered households in Ireland.
And if we exclude leaks, we get an even lower median household usage, and therefore an even lower threshold for excessive use – meaning roughly 176,000 households (20%) would be liable to a charge for excessive use.
When we talk about “average use” of water, there are really four different kinds.
And because of these four different averages, we get four different possible thresholds for “excessive use”, set at 1.7 times the average.
If we apply these to CER consumption figures, we can calculate a rough estimate of how many households would be above the “excessive use” threshold.
There are a few health warnings that comes with these figures, which are important to note:
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This is just a ploy to justify and secure metering. We will all ultimately be made pay once the system is in place and had gained acceptance. The threshold will be reduced every year. Don’t be fooled by talk of excessive use.
@Paraic McDonagh:
I wonder why so many don’t want to be metered?
@Buster VL: Probably because they don’t trust the government or Irish Water…..
@Kerry Blake: Na, they just want other people to pay for their water for them.
@John McG:
The cornerstone of socialism…
“Someone else should pay”
@Kerry Blake:
Well, the way to be certain is to meter water.. the meters are certified by a European test house.
So niether the govt or Irish water can manipulate the consumption figures.
Buster VL. One word for you. IDIOT.
A 5 minute power shower can use 175 L alone. Remember that those that think this idea of fg and ff is fantastic when your singing in your shower.. then your washing machine takes another 60L .. that’s before you brush your teeth..
@LITTLEONE: Mná na hÉireann to the rescue – one meter at a time
@brian boru: absolutely….
@ray.farrelly: blue gold … corporate governance dictatorship working for there masters to turn our waters into a commodity to sell off to the highest bidder nothing more nothing less
That’s the banking motto John..
Irish water and consumption figures in one sentence? You just know there is no factual information in that……
@Kerry Blake: I was planting a few veg in the garden at the weekend and couldn’t get over how dry the ground was. Got me think what a dry winter and spring it was and how terrible it would be if there was a water shortage this summer. Might make “we’re not paying for it twice” brigade appreciate what they’ve got.
@Kerry Blake: Its irrelevant meters are coming out quickly – ignore literature and post from this monstrosity of corruption that dares call itself Irish Water – Nothing has changed do not engage with this monster of corruption – We pay for the nations water through general taxation – Just because FF turned its back on election promises does not mean anything has changed
@mickmc: get yourself a water butt for collecting rain water. Perfect for conserving mains water and ideal for your veg. Only thing is, you’ll have to inform Irish Water as you’ll need permission from them to collect it and they’ll also want to charge you for the disposal of that water. I’d also imagine that if they’d put the millions spent on consultants and Irish water into fixing the leaks, we wouldn’t have any “water shortages”.
@mickmc: harvest thousands of litres from roofs for garden and washing purposes to cut back on what i pay my group scheme for clean water from clean pipes free of algae and bacteria. Sure these rebels ripping out water meters will end up in court if not prison and should supply themselves. Other countries in Europe think we are crazy. Granted we gave contract for metres to a vulture capitalist, but still there’s the issue of modern infrastructure embedding an antiquated network of lead pipes in concrete and tarmaccadum. And the issue of polluted ground water from inadequate sewage systems and intensive food production making treatment a necessity. The same people who want free water and dirty water treatment want cheap food and government can only pay farmers so much to protect the environment in maximising their incomes and all that.
Fact:
Irish water consumption is among the lowest in europe.
Fact:
Houshold leakage accounts for a very small porportion of the total loss of treated water.
Fact:
If we had invested the billion euro wasted trying to set up IW we would have the best national water provision system in the world.
Fact:
IW is dead in the water.
Fact:
FG and FF are a bigger waste than all of the water in the sea.
@Stephen Maher: fact: saying fact after something doesn’t make it true. You need to actually demonstrate your point
@Michael Doyle: is that a fact?
@Kevin Allen: I think that actually is a fact
@Chef Harold: I’ve lost track of what the ‘fact’ is….
Doesn’t matter what the bloody average is. We all pay already!!
@SteveW:
Steve, I don’t want to pay for your water as well as my own.
Pay for your own water!
@ SteveW. .yes it does and “we all don’t pay already” are you suggesting any amount of consumption should be free.
@sparky: Well if you pay VAT on purchases and also tax your car you already pay for water…..
@ kerry Blake if I live on social welfare and I don’t have a car..that’s besides the point..I’m against water charges on the average household…but one thing if nothing else it has done for me personally is I’m trying to stop my son having a 10 minute shower.
@SteveW:only people who work and pay tax pay for water
@Kerry Blake: well, you pay some paltry contribution towards it, but it doesn’t even add up to paying once, unless you pay about 20K in VAT annually
Sparky try be a parent and explain the benefits of a quick shower! In the meantime if your concerned about excessive use the majority of the leaks are on the providers side of the network! Also check with Ballygowan about how many ship loads they are sucking from our water table on a daily basis! Finally I suggest you have a nice cold shower your self!
@ Jarlath Murphy.it never really a big concern of mine prior to this debate about water, mine was the electricity been used, as I would think a lot of parents thought the same. But I’m sure you were well aware of that and timed yours..Ballygowan is muck as is all bottled water if one buys bottled water they feed the problem…I’ll just keep a closer eye on my own usage..thanks.
@Kerry Blake:
Oh really? Is that a fact?
@Kerry Blake:
Yes, I pay vat and car tax. By your logic, does that entitles me to free electricity and free petrol.. irrespective of consumption?
Buster VL. We already pay you clown.
@Buster VL: Buster is an idiot he does not understand how a mass boycott and meter removal scheme works
Meters out ignore all post from corrupt monster Irish Water
@brian boru: there’s thousands of people like buster who pay through group schemes and then pay for treating your tap water through general taxation.
@Monty Donotno: Ah sure grand lets burn a billion euro in cash so that thousand people are given a fair deal …. the raw stupidity relative to those that defend Irish Water never fails to amaze me
@brian boru: 170 thousand households of the 1.7 million in the country are in group schemes and pay all the while for water.
Abolish Irish Water plc
The trough is half drained by now with all the bonuses, pinshuns and perks. Still glass half full kinda guy
It’s in the back door. If we accept IW after all the promises from our elected politicians to rid us of this bankers tax, then we really truly deserve FF back in for FG. Keep the ar$e and again just switch the cheeks ☺
Based on previous experience to date, the scheme to steal the water from our children and gran children in the future continues unabated! Please ensure that you protect the water supply provision of your children into the future by stopping any preference votes going to any party that supports the Privatisation of Irish Water by the trojan horse of metering, No preference votes for FG, FF, Lab or the Greens! Not even a 10th choice Remember Phil Hogan got in on the 13th count and Alan Kelly on the last! Discard these quislings come #GE2017
@Jarlath Murphy: Good point. I wonder how many people put a vote down for everyone on the ballot sheet, when really, they don’t have to. I always believed that we had to give a vote to everyone on the sheet. There I was, like so many others, playing eeny-meeny-miney-moe on the ballot sheet, after giving the preference vote to the preferred politician, not realising that by doing that, I was giving a vote to the guys I didn’t want, just by marking the ballot sheet. Message – only cast votes for the politicians you want. If we all did that, we would have few recounts and many of these guys would not be getting into power by the skin of their teeth on all these excess votes.
It’s paid for already,tell politicians to stop wasting money on quango,committee’s, inquires, PR spin agencies,false expenses.
@@mdmak33: It’s a case of getting the users to pay for what they use, just like we do with other utilities such as electricity and gas
We are not a middle eastern country, we are surrounded by water, a small population and it pisses rain here all the time so it shouldn’t be a problem.
An Irish Farmer saw a man drinking water from a puddle and shouted ‘ Don’t drink that water my cows pissed in it’, the man replied I’m English I cant understand what your saying speak slower and the farmer said in a slow voice ‘ I said use your two hands you will get more water in your mouth’.
The writer never considered if excessive usage was going to be defined on a per household basis or per person basis. If they opt for a per person basis then they need to track how many people live at each dwelling. An administration nightmare.
@Trevor Matthews: no – when reporting numbers of people in your household, this is verified against PPS numbers with Dept of Social
This sounds like a enda kenny fine gael question
The average household containing 2.6 people seems low. Must be a lot of vacant homes around.
@BlueSkyThinking: no – not every couple has children and not everybody is in a couple.
An adult usually only has their children with them for about 25 years – about 1/3 of their life.
And the average number of children is little over two nowadays
Vacant homes aren’t households. There’s a lot of older people living alone.
With Leaks, Without Leaks, we are not ‘using’ water due to leaks FFS
There is no shortage of water and there never will be. This is just a money making scam which government use to raise revenue. We were told ten years ago that petrol would be a thing of the past in ten years but it seems that there is still a lot of it.
Eh….,..you went to a lot of bother to find all that out….but how are they going to bill us for excessive useage when so many of us don’t have water metres????
@da rant 2:
https://www.facebook.com/NotOneMeterWWW/
Just in case you still know of meters – Mná na hÉireann to rescue
Why have the media not wrote one article on the ridiculous cost its cost the taxpayer to install these meters so far.absolute disgraceful journalism from Ireland
@dick dastardly: also the roads are starting to sink and pothole where meters have being installed roads are disgrace around Waterford and county since metering
Pretty sure I use way less than that.
Fun fact, you don’t need a full shower/bath every day, it’s actually not good for your skin. Sometimes a wet cloth and soap for certain parts will suffice, saves time too.
@Ariana: not if you have ibs
Next election lets take down and remove every fg ff labour poster to be seen make these dumb and dumber politicains suffer for their pure Arrogance.out of sight out of mind and peace of mind.
Just introduce a government water tank scheme with plumbing for all uses except drinking and cooking. Australia has had a tank water system for country and suburban homes for nearly 2 decades and it works well. Ireland has no problem with water;
its just a matter of collecting and storing it.
Have a fish tank near 300 ltrs brought it home from Shanghai where had it in old office. Know how much it costs to turn Irish tap water into Amazon biotope the version of which I’m running is stable five years. Not cheap to turn tap water into water fit for fish to live in. So assume corollary is true. Despite the VAT increase in the Nineties supposed to pay for it all and the fact of 50%+ general taxation and Noonan raiding the pension most ppl might be persuaded of a few bob if there was a constitutional provision. That said the stuff of life would never go into the hands of Denis O’Bribe’em. Inter alios.
@John O’Driscoll: get rain barrells a 300 litre one will fill over night when it’s rains and no chemicals in water .
@Gerard Heery: It depends where you live, pollution etc and whether your county has been blitzed by Chemtrails. I keep fish too.
@Kevin Allen: I have e 20 year old gold fish on rain water out side pond
I think that most reasonable people in the country would not object on principle for paying a reasonable amount for water usage. But the fundamental problem here is that the government are not to be trusted. The government has been caught out so many times, with false figures, threats, ridiculous consultancy fees, etc. that I personally have no faith in any proposal brought forward. Which leaves us all at an impasse. Where do we go from here?
@ da rant 2:
We’ll be able to find you using your famous district metering detection system.
You know…..the system that’s so accurate you don’t need individual meters
@da rant 2;
We’ll be able to discover your excessive usage by means of your famously accurate district metering system.
Or had you forgotten about that?
Meters are great idea as they measure usage. And anyone who is wasting water will be penalised
Thats a load of bo..ox. i leave my house at 6 having flushed the toilet once. Get back at seven. (Washing machine only goes on twice a week so ive a full load.) Might drink a litre or 2 of water and flush toilet once or twice .
4 toilet flushes is 20 litres plus drinking water = 22 litres.
Now how the fu.k can i use 200 litres of water.
Astonished
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