Are YOU going to pay your water bills?

keith16 · 28-01-2014 11:10PM #1

I have no problem paying for my water. I think it's a good idea.

However, I'm going to have serious difficulty paying that first bill and I will do everything I can to withold payment, for as long as I can.

When I think about paying my water bill, I don't believe I will be paying for my water. I believe I will be paying for corruption, greed and ineptitude.

For the purposes of discussion, I'm less concerned with the individual controversy that have surrounded this issue.

Rather, I would like to get a sense of how people will react to the inevitable cases of people protesting that will happen with this.

For whatever reason, the general level of protest (at the moment) doesn't seem to be anywhere near the rabid reaction to the property tax. Is that going to be the case for long?

Are you going to pay?

vicwatson · 28-01-2014 11:12PM

I would if I could, but I can't

Sky King · 28-01-2014 11:14PM

I'd like to see more info on what is fixed and what is variable in terms of the charges.

I use fk all water to be honest so if it's pay per use i will be grand. But what's the bets they will have a 200 euro fixed annual charge and 0.000001 euro per hectolitre thereafter

Michael D Not Higgins · 28-01-2014 11:14PM

How much is the water going to cost? I pay ~£300 a year for water and sewerage in the UK (one bed flat).

Sky King · 28-01-2014 11:16PM

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

How much is the water going to cost? I pay ~£300 a year for water and sewerage in the UK (one bed flat).

What do you do with the sewerage?

shopaholic01 · 28-01-2014 11:17PM

I'll pay because I would like to have sufficient water pressure to have a shower and use appliances.

I have no problem paying for water in principle, but the fact that this is another measure to fill the hole left by the bailout pisses me off.

I find it best not to think about Irish Water, maybe their 2000 surplus staff can do that on my behalf.

wandatowell · 28-01-2014 11:21PM

No choice really. Once the bill comes in the door I have to pay it.

The Backwards Man · 28-01-2014 11:23PM

I've no problem paying for my water, it's good quality stuff, turn on the tap and voila, there it is. (Also have a spring well and a rainwater harvesting system for backup;)). I know plenty of people with crap water though, and I sure as hell wouldn't pay for the sh1te that comes out of their taps.

keith16 · 28-01-2014 11:23PM

wandatowell wrote: »

No choice really. Once the bill comes in the door I have to pay it.

Why?

Michael D Not Higgins · 28-01-2014 11:25PM

Sky King wrote: »

What do you do with the sewerage?

I know you're being facetious but the way they break it down here, you pay more for waste water to be taken away than clean water to be delivered.

Sky King · 28-01-2014 11:27PM

They break it down using bacteria.

Saucy McKetchup · 28-01-2014 11:30PM

Nope I'd rather buy bottled water to drink and harvest rainwater to bathe in

FueledbyCoffee · 28-01-2014 11:33PM

Can't and won't

Mr. G · 28-01-2014 11:44PM

You could of course buy a bucket and go down to the pump, of which a lot of towns have.

Most countries pay for water. I think it's a good thing, at least people will be more careful, rather than leaving taps running all the time.

keith16 · 28-01-2014 11:46PM

Mr. G wrote: »

You could of course buy a bucket and go down to the pump, of which a lot of towns have.

Most countries pay for water. I think it's a good thing, at least people will be more careful, rather than leaving taps running all the time.

I agree with this. However, I have a real problem with how Irish water is being set up.

The whole thing just stinks.

Mr. G · 28-01-2014 11:48PM

keith16 wrote: »

I agree with this. However, I have a real problem with how Irish water is being set up.

The whole thing just stinks.

Yep, easier said than done

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy · 28-01-2014 11:49PM

Saucy McKetchup wrote: »

Nope I'd rather buy bottled water to drink and harvest rainwater to bathe in

Nice. Your move, Enda

maringo · 28-01-2014 11:49PM

I have no problem paying for water. But I do have a problem paying for fluoridated water. I use a distiller for most of my drinking water to remove the fluoride as I won't drink it straight from the tap.

Stavros Murphy · 28-01-2014 11:53PM

maringo wrote: »

I have no problem paying for water. But I do have a problem paying for fluoridated water. I use a distiller for most of my drinking water to remove the fluoride as I won't drink it straight from the tap.

Moonshine?

I ain't paying for water. Borehole and pump, ftw.

Saucy McKetchup · 29-01-2014 12:08AM

Duracell Bunny wrote: »

Nice. Your move, Enda

Foiled again

maringo · 29-01-2014 12:13AM

Moonshine, afraid not. Just great tasting water.

TheHappyChappy · 29-01-2014 12:17AM

Still not got anything in letterbox re: property tax, so don't expect to get anything about this, & quite happy not to pay for 'jobs for the boys'

wandatowell · 29-01-2014 12:18AM

keith16 wrote: »

Why?

As the home owner I've no choice. Bills have to be paid.

shruikan2553 · 29-01-2014 12:21AM

I'll pay but will be expecting decent quality water for it. Will be questioning them what is wrong if the water looks even a bit off.

Stained Class · 29-01-2014 12:28AM

Haven't gotten round to paying the Household Charge yet...

Sir Arthur Daley · 29-01-2014 12:28AM

Is it true people who have private water wells or people who get their water off the side of a mountain will have to pay water charges?

Stained Class · 29-01-2014 12:30AM

WikiHow wrote: »

Is it true people who have private water wells or people who get their water off the side of a mountain will have to pay water charges?

I think they're stung with Septic tank charges.

No-one escapes, one way or another.

tayto lover · 29-01-2014 12:30AM

Faucet's Circus at the minute.

Bipolar Joe · 29-01-2014 12:31AM

I wouldn't mind if it meant the water wasn't gonna be full of lime, bacteria and other rubbish like it is now. This all seems like a way to get more money for debts I had to part in racking up than an attempt to set up a decent water supply.

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo · 29-01-2014 12:32AM

I wish they just put a flat, nominal fee onto every electricity bill for the next 5 years at first and put all monies raised from this fee purely into upgrading the pipe network and improving water quality, legislate for all new builds to have meters installed, and then in a few years (when we're doing a bit better) maybe start installing meters into current homes.

No, sure why not spend a few billion right now setting up a company that can only make a profit by punishing people for under usage while making zero tangible improvements to the water network for the 'customer'.

seamus · 29-01-2014 12:35AM

keith16 wrote: »

I agree with this. However, I have a real problem with how Irish water is being set up.

The whole thing just stinks.

Agreed to an extent, though I can see the point on the staffing issue. The agreement was that IW would take staff from the local authorities - those staff involved in water. Not a bad idea; you're getting experienced staff, familiar with the local facilities, and on the balance of it, your overall staff costs don't change. We're paying the same people for the same job.

If they had IW set up like a normal company and we lay off all of the water staff in LAs, the unions would wet themselves (pun intended).

So on principle, I've no issue with the staff thing. My main concern is that instead of shedding the fat through redundancies, etc, IW will continue to operate with 2.5 times more staff than it needs, which will account for probably 50% of my entire water bill.

Are YOU going to pay your water bills?

Are you going to pay your water bill? 105 votes

Comments