Minister for the Environment John Gormley has called for urgent action to be taken after a new report found that much of the water supplied by local authorities goes missing.
According to the Annual Indicators Report, a study which has been compiled by the Local Government Management Services Board (LGMSB) on behalf of the Department of the Environment, some local authorities are unable to account for more than half of their water supply.
Of 34 city and county councils, 22 could not account for more than 40 per cent of their supply. Roscommon Couty Council said it was unaware what happened to 58.6 per cent of its supply. County councils in Kilkenny, South Tipperary and Offaly and Cork city council were also unable to account for more than half of their supply.
Limerick county council, which had the least unaccounted for water percentage of the authorities under review could not account for almost 17 per cent of its supply.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio this afternoon, Mr Gormley described the figures as "unacceptable."
The Minister said that it costs over €1 billion to treat water for public consumption and that the unaccounted supplies were not just a waste of water but also a waste of money.
He added that he may restrict funding to those authorities who do not adequately address the issue.
"The amount of water going missing is not acceptable. We've seen figures of over 50 per cent in many counties and I've made it clear to the local authorities... that I won't give money to authorities in which this problem is not being addressed," he said.
Although much of the water that gets lost is attributed to leakage due to old pipes, the report also noted that there are other factors at play including unauthorised use of public supplies and metering errors.
