Sir, – England could run short of water within 25 years, a British newspaper warned this week. This should be a wake-up call for us here in Ireland, for we could easily be a close runner-up in this race. We seem to have put our water problems to the back of our mind, especially while the rain continues to fall unharvested on us day after day. However, come summer and another heatwave, the water crisis will begin again.
In my small corner of Co Tipperary, we suffered from a kerosene leak into our local water treatment plant during Storm Emma last March. We were without water for a number of weeks while the problem was dealt with. Since the return of clean water, we have a day or two every month when the water has to be cut off again due to a leak in the pipes. This is a fairly regular occurrence, and I can only assume it is because these old pipes started to crack during the period when they were dry with no water running through them.
This should be a wake-up call to the authorities! Not only is it time to spend money on repair and maintenance of our water supply in order to limit waste by leakage, but also to consider building more reservoirs to contain the abundance of water currently been sent to us from the skies.
Climate change is a fact. We should prepare for it by remembering that water is more precious than gold, and that we cannot live without it. – Yours, etc,
ANNE STRAHAN,
Ballynonty,
Co Tipperary.