Updated November 2014 : In some parts of Ireland there are places where the public water supply has to be boiled before drinking because of the presence of dangerous bacteria. In County Roscommon for example , some towns have had to boil their tap water for many months because of cryptosporidium. Galway City residents couldn’t drink the water for months back in 2007.
Water charging was originally due to begin on 1st October 2014- with the first quarterly bills due to be sent out in early 2015. After a rethink – teh government delayed charging until Jan 2015.
The latest details of the amounts you can expect to pay for your water can be found here:
Water Charges – Metered Homes
Water Charges – Unmetered Homes
The revised charges have now been agreed by the CER – and homes where a boil notice has been issued will get a discount.
Water charges are made up of a water supply charge and a waste water charge (sewage) – it is split 50:50.
The discount when a ” boil notice ” has been in place for more than 24 hours will be a a 100% reduction in the charge for the water supplied – i.e a 50% reduction on the total water bill where a home is connected to the mains sewage system.
For example -if a home with a water meter is in an area where a boil water notice is in place… and that boil water notice is in place for a whole billing quarter (3 months)….
If their metered water usage makes them liable for a quarterly bill of €60 for water charges (made up of €30 for water supply and €30 for waste water) ,… they will get a discount of €30 for that quarter.
If they have their own septic tank etc – then their water bill would be for supply only i.e €30 and the reduction would be €30 – so no charge.
All you need to know about Water Charges here
It is quite bad that water will be allowed to be unfit for human consumption, but to also charge for it is unfair. If the water quality is bad for more than 3 months then surely the bigger question would be “why”, what are the reasons for not having it potable.