PLANS TO start installing domestic water meters by the end this year are looking increasingly remote because of a lack of information on the location of household water supply points, according to a report by Olivia Kelly in today's Irish Times.
Water meters cannot be installed until the location and number of household stopcocks has been determined. Tenders for the supply of meters have yet to be advertised.
Senior water industry sources now say it would be inconceivable that universal metering could be in place by 2014, the date by which the Government has committed to charging for water. The sources say it will now be 2016, at the earliest, before national metering could be achieved.
In addition, they warn the upfront installation of meters by the Government target date of 2014, would be prohibitively expensive and could result in households being charged more than if a flat charge were used initially.
Read more in today's Irish Times.
