Creation of 10,000 jobs from water investment

AROUND 10,000 construction jobs are expected to be created as part of planned Government investment in the country's outdated water pipe network. It's estimated that a minimum of 9,000 jobs will be created through the installation of domestic meter boxes in advance of water charges being introduced.

A further 1,200 construction jobs will be generated as part of a simultaneous three-year nationwide investment in pipe replacement, say Department of Environment sources.

Up to €100 million is to be ring-fenced in each of the next three years for "priority spending" on pipe network refurbishment while the installation of a water-metering infrastructure will cost an estimated €500m. Detailed proposals on the roll-out of water- metering go to Cabinet within the next month.

Meanwhile, to mark World Water Day, environmental groups will protest outside Leinster House today to highlight government failure to protect rivers, lakes and coastal waters.

One group, Sustainable Water Network (SWAN) is critical of the Department of the Environment's River Basin Management Plans, which go to Europe shortly.

SWAN spokeswoman Sinead O'Brien said the plans are "inadequate" as they don't include a coastal waters management plan. "This combined with poor waste water treatment means that at more than 100 locations around the country, raw or inadequately treated water is flowing into our estuaries and bays," she said.

A department spokesperson said the plans were not on Minister John Gormley's desk yet. "In the past two years there has been record investment in water quality and new legislation has given much greater enforcement rights to the EPA," the spokesperson said.