All new houses built throughout the State should be fitted with water meters so that householders can be charged for their consumption in the future, according to a review of Ireland's environment by the OECD.
The review says the abolition of domestic water charges in 1997 was "a step in the wrong direction" because the scale of investment required in water supply and sewage treatment systems needed to be based on "full cost recovery".
With up to 500,000 new homes expected to be built over the next 10 years, the OECD advocates the installation of water meters, saying this would be in line with the "polluter/user pays principle" and the need to make more use of "eco-taxation".
Ms Joke Waller-Hunter, head of the organisation's environment division, told a press briefing yesterday that Ireland was "the only OECD member state not charging domestic users" for water - certainly the only one to abolish water charges.
Noting that just half of municipal waste management costs were recovered through waste charges and landfill "gate fees", it says all local authorities in the State should charge householders for waste disposal - preferably linked to the quantity of waste put out for collection.
It also recommends that the "user pays principle" should be extended to road transport, with the emphasis on taxing vehicle use (fuel taxes or more tolls, for example) rather than taxing ownership, through VRT (vehicle registration tax), and taxes at point of sale.
The OECD review calls for an accelerated programme of testing emissions from cars and other vehicles, including second-hand imports. It also suggests that measures should be taken to "shift freight and passenger traffic out of Dublin to the extent feasible".
And because "stringent measures" needed to be taken to control air pollution, in line with international agreements, it recommends phasing out the ESB's older peat-fired power plants, and the conversion of others to operate on less "dirty" fuels, such as natural gas.
According to the OECD, the use of peat for power production should be re-evaluated because its energy efficiency was low, associated emissions were "rather high" and the environmental impact of peat harvesting "severe", affecting bog habitats of European significance.
A spokesman for the ESB said its older peat-fired generating stations at Lanesboro, Bellacorrick, Rhode and Shannonbridge were due to close in 2004. Another peat-fired station at Cahirciveen is scheduled to close in 2003, while the one at Ferbane closed last March.
However, the ESB is planning two new "state-of-the-art" peat-fired stations at Shannonbridge and Lanesboro.
