Whether you like it or not Water Meters will be installed in every house and flat in Ireland. They will be fitted during 2013 and be ready to go during  January2015. These are the latest state of the art meters which can be read remotely. There's no need for anybody to come along and open the ''Stop Cock'' to take a reading. The reading are sent out by radio transmission. The company that will be in charge of the instillation are Irish Water who are owned by Bord Gáis 

The cost will be in the region of fifty euro per house. Every business in Ireland already pays for water. The average house hold will pay about  €300 per year. But this figure depends on family size and how much water is used. The meters will be read by a hand held device which picks up a signal that will be unique to each meter. That information is then fed to a computer at head office, just like the E.S.B. It hasn't been decided yet if the consumer will foot the bill for the initial cost of fitting the meter.

So who will be paying ? Basically everybody , unlike the household charge where those living in County Council / Corporation housing and paying rents were exempt from the payment this time they won't be so lucky. Nope, if you use water you're going to have to pay for it, like it or lump it.

Irish Water have announced that the installation of water meters will begin in August 2013. There will be a 2 hour disruption to the supply to the home while the meters are being installed. The first bills for water will be in January 2015. There will be 2000 men employed in the installation of the meters.

The company said they don't yet have a price as to what will be paid by consumers as the price will be set by the Irish energy regulator soon..

Tips On  Saving Water

In the above image you'll see on the meter a dial something like the E.S.B. Meter in your house. If that dial is still moving even though you are not using any water in your house eg. your washing machine isn't on and you have not used the toilet recently then you have a water leak. The leak in the pipe will be in the pipe that runs from the meter to your house. It's up to the householder to get the leak fixed not the water company, after all it's located on your property.

Water Barrels Are Back

Water barrels were used in Ireland for donkeys years before mains water was installed. This is where you place a 40 gallon barrel under the gutter to make use of the rain water from the roof of your house. Years ago people used this water for washing clothes and washing their hair. Nowadays you don't see many 40 gallon drums outside houses as specially made plastic water drums are widly on sale in all D.I.Y. and hardware shops. And they are generally not used for washing your hair but rather for use in the garden.

Put A Brick In Your Cistern

If you have one of the old toilet cisterns then the odds are it's too big and used too much water. Carefully place a brick or a half brick into the cistern. This means that each time it fills up you'll be using much less water as the brick takes up space what there once was water. Lots of environmentally friendly people already do this anyway. You could save 1,000 of liters a month depending on how many are living in the house.I heard a man from Africa speaking in an interview saying how hard it was to find clean water and you people shit in it.

Don't leave the tap on when washing your teeth. Don't take a shower when all you want to do is wash your hair.

One of the first areas to be fitted with meters is the Fingal area of Dublin. This area covers some of the largest towns in Dublin including the capital, Swords along with Balbriggan, Rush, Donabate and Skerries.  The meter installers will have their work cut out for them as Fingal is largely a rural area with houses and farms scattered all over the place. A lot of these rural areas have ''Stop Cocks'' which are over grown with trees and soil, some have  deliberately covered the stop cock in the hope that the meter installer will be unable to locate it and simple go away. There's little hope of this lads as these boys have water detectors for finding where the water and stop cocks are located.

Irish water have also stated that even if they can't find the stop cock location then they will send an estimated bill to the house