The Federation of Group Water Schemes

When nobody is looking, bad things happen.

We are members of a private group water scheme (PGWS) of some 100 or so homes and farms in rural Cork.

The Federation of Group Water Schemes (FGWS) recently introduced changes to the rules of its members. These included a change in the number of people/members required to be present for a legal meeting of the scheme. This is a meeting where the decisions made, at that meeting, are legally binding on ALL the members. They changed the rule from the number required being a percentage of the total membership to just seven members.

This was explained as “Resolving the problem of the larger schemes of not being able to get sufficient members to a meeting to form a legal quorum.” So, to be clear, seven people in a scheme of a thousand homes can decide to spend any amount on anything and all the members are legally bound to pay an equal share! Alternative methods of ensuring that the will of members was met were and have been ignored. No postal vote is allowed. No proxy voting is allowed. You have to be there on the night or you get no say. For many people with families this is just not possible. The FGWS has said it wants private GWS to merge and operate under “Professional management”.

But this does not work unless you also change other rules and introduce new “Operational Regulations” and these include:

Operating Regulations

15. Any Member giving an unauthorised temporary or permanent supply to another party will be liable for a fine of €500 and the Board is entitled, in accordance with Operating Regulation 12, to disconnect that Member's property or premises until such fine is paid and the unauthorised connection is terminated or regularised. The Board may review the amount of this fine from time to time.

16. A reconnection fee of €500 shall be charged in all cases. The Board may review this fee from time to time.

19. The Society, its Board and members shall not be liable to any Member or Members for any failure to supply water or to procure the supply of water to a Member or any other party, nor shall the Society, its Board or its Members be responsible in respect of the loss of any other material or service intended to be supplied by virtue of an arrangement
made with a Member or Members where the loss has resulted from an Act of God or other circumstances beyond the control of the Society, its Board or Members, and the Society, its Board and Members shall not be liable for any expenses or consequential losses whatsoever sustained by a Member or Members in those circumstances. This exclusion of liability shall apply in respect of any delay in arranging supply and in respect of termination of supply for whatever reason. Each member accepts, by virtue of such membership, the provisions of this clause.

Please forgive this long entry.

The rules are there to punish members who, in the view of a board given unlimited powers and legal immunity, transgress. €500 to turn a stopcock and reconnect a family who may have fallen behind with payments. That is punitive punishment.

Another move, in the new rules, takes the principal of all members of a GWS being shareholders with rights including the right to vote at meetings. They introduce “Users”. These are households supplied with water by the GWS but they are not shareholders and they are not entitled to vote. A “users” rate of payment would be higher than a member.

Under the old rules it was not possible for persons to gain legal control or ownership of a Community Group Water Scheme. Under the new rules they could.

Water meters are coming and certain vested interests are moving to control supply and the industry.

Also posted in the thread “The National Water Agency”