This post could be entitled “water”. It is prompted by the proposal of Michael Phillips the Dublin City Engineer, that water be piped from the river Shannon to Dublin city.

I have not heard the reason why this “solution” is necessary. What, in fact, is the problem?

Let’s start with an Irish Times report seen HERE. We should also refer to a paper by Mr. Phillips himself, seen HERE.

The Irish Times report is of value; it has some figures in it about water in Dublin city and elsewhere, but one figure is missing (and missing from Mr. Phillips’ paper also); the maximum recoverable rainfall in the Dublin region.

Where is the full assessment of the problem?

The issue is not without its comedy; here is the Irish Times quoting Mr. Phillips;

“Dublin city engineer Michael Phillips said the implication of the report is that water would fall more copiously in places where it was not needed.”

Or, HERE is another media report, implying brain damage in the reporter; (sub-editors have that effect).

There can be only one (or two) reasons why Dublin city might source its water from the Shannon river; we do not have enough water in the Dublin region or the cost of collecting it exceeds the cost of the pipe from Dublin to the Shannon.

Mr. Phillips is not without his own resources; his full case can be seen HERE.
The difficulty with his view is his definition of “current water sources”. They are his treatment plants. In short, we do not suffer from a shortage of water; we suffer from a shortage of water treatment plants.

Of course we also suffer from inefficiently functioning distribution networks, as we see from the Irish Times report.

The Government solution to this crisis is the metering of water, a solution way below the level of “policy”

We are still left with a question.

Who makes water policy and why?