Water quality: The reintroduction of domestic water charges would be a "powerful tool" to reduce Ireland's relatively high consumption of water, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Figures produced by the EPA show that per capita water consumption here is 370 litres per day, compared to an EU average of 200 litres per day, and all the indications are that it will continue to rise.
Noting that Ireland is the only EU and OECD country where households are not charged directly for water, it says the revenue from metering would contribute towards the cost of providing good quality water.
However, in its latest review, "Ireland's Environment 2004", the agency warns that implementing the stringent standards of the EU's new Water Framework Directive "is likely to prove extremely difficult, if not impossible, in many situations".
It also warns that new limits for acidifying gases, such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ammonia and volatile organic compounds, were a major challenge that would impose "substantial costs" on key sectors of the economy.
The "very ambitious" water directive, which was adopted here last December, requires good quality to be attained for all waters throughout the EU by 2015.
It also specifies that there must be "no deterioration" in water quality.
The review says eutrophication (over-enrichment) of surface waters remains Ireland's most widespread water pollution problem, affecting 44 lakes, 10 estuaries and over 3,800 km of river channel, and identifies agriculture as the principal cause.
Though the use of nitrate and phosphorus fertilisers had decreased in recent years, it was still "excessive".
Much better nutrient control and management in agriculture would be needed to deal with diffuse pollution of waterways.
The Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, conceded that the preparation of an action plan under the EU Nitrates Directive had proved sensitive, but the same was true elsewhere as only one EU country had so far submitted its plan to Brussels.
Dr Mary Kelly, the EPA's director general, said newly-built sewage treatment plants for cities, which will help curtail pollution, needed to be properly maintained "to deliver a return on the investment in the form of clean water".
On sulphur dioxide, the review says the target to reduce emissions by 56 per cent by 2010 is roughly equivalent to the combined emissions from the two largest SO2 sources in electricity generation and all emissions from industry in 2002.
"The scale of the SO2 reductions needed means that there are tough decisions to be taken and there are large economic implications for the major emitters at a sectoral level," it says.
This price is already being paid at Moneypoint.
