Chief Executive Officer’s statement

Uisce Éireann is responsible for the delivery of secure, safe and sustainable public water services for 80% of the population enabling the economy to grow and communities across Ireland to thrive. As Ireland’s national public water utility, we play a pivotal role in achieving our national commitments across a range of key areas, including supporting housing delivery, sustainable economic growth, environmental protection and the achievement of climate resilience and adaptation policies. This was another productive and challenging year in our transformative journey to enhance water services across the country. Increased investment in 2024 enabled us to improve drinking water quality, reduce wastewater discharges, tackle leakage and build resilience in our water supplies.

We have made significant progress over the last decade in addressing historic under investment in water services however, increased investment over many years will be crucial to ensure the provision of safe, secure and sustainable water supplies, and to support the country’s social and economic development.

Over the longer term we estimate that, in the period up to 2050, a capital investment of circa €55-60 billion (in 2022 monies) will be required to address the known needs and risks to water and wastewater service delivery to current standards, including effective maintenance of complex new and upgraded assets required. This is the minimum capital investment that will increase capacity, reduce leakage, improve resilience, facilitate economic growth, support the delivery of housing, and achieve and sustain greater compliance with current water and wastewater standards. In the absence of this level of sustained investment there will be risks to service delivery and associated pressures on operational expenditure to safely maintain service levels and quality.

The Water Services Strategic Plan 2050 (WSSP 2050) is our long-term strategic plan which is required to be prepared under the Water Services No. 2 Act 2013. It sets out our objectives and the means by which we aim to achieve them in the context of the significant challenges we are likely to face over the next 25 years. The plan outlines our strategic direction and the actions we intend to implement to ensure sustainable public water services for Ireland. Through the delivery of our WSSP 2050, we will build on the legacy of our local authority water services heritage, working with our customers, communities, and stakeholders to enhance our shared environment and support social and economic development.

During 2024, we continued to prioritise the transformation of the water sector integrating 31 different ways of delivering water services into one. The transition of Water Services staff into Uisce Éireann, along with filling vacancies, and enabling the integration of all our people in our new shared organisation continues. Our We Live Water programme launched our new Organisational Values and Behaviours which is an important step to building on and developing our future culture. This work is vital so that we can fully deliver on the benefits of a national water authority model with strong local teams delivering in and for our communities. The dedicated Transformation Programme Team have been progressing the transition on a phased basis, with the primary focus being on stability of operations, service continuity and safety of both staff and public health.

Health and Safety

At Uisce Éireann the health and safety of our employees, contractors, customers and the general public is paramount. We foster a culture of safety through leadership, employee engagement and initiatives such as our Work Safe Home Safe campaign. Tragically on the 29th of May 2024, a person working on behalf of one of our third-party delivery partners had a fatal accident during works at the Roscrea Wastewater Treatment Plant. The incident is currently under investigation with the Health and Safety Authority. In 2025 we will continue our focus on education and awareness training regarding risks and dangers associated with construction activity.

Multi-Annual Funding

On 5 November 2024, the Uisce Éireann Strategic Funding Plan (2025-2029) was approved by the Minister for Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH). Subsequently, Uisce Éireann’s Capital Investment Plan 2025 to 2029 was submitted to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) on 2 December 2024.

The Uisce Éireann Strategic Funding Plan sets out the funding requirement from 2025 to 2029 and comprises of an ambitious capital investment plan delivering key outputs and outcomes in capital infrastructure and assets and operational expenditure for the maintenance and daily operation of over 7,000 public infrastructure assets as well as the delivery of critical strategic national infrastructure projects. This funding requirement is met through a combination of Exchequer (domestic) subvention, non-domestic revenue, new connections revenue and capital funding contributions/ equity. This allows Uisce Éireann to continue its overall delivery of, and investment in critical public water projects and programmes, increased capacity for new housing and business connections, leakage reduction and environmental improvements. Under Uisce Éireann’s current funding model, the domestic subvention and equity are provided through an allocation of Exchequer funding via the Government’s annual budgetary process. The reliance on this process creates funding uncertainty from an operational and capital delivery perspective. A key change to support the timely delivery of water infrastructure projects would be a move from this annual allocation to a multi-annual structure, providing stability and certainty to the supply chain/ industry and bring alignment with Uisce Éireann’s multi-annual revenue control set by its independent economic regulator, the CRU.

The revenue control process involves the CRU engaging with and reviewing Uisce Éireann’s submissions, benchmarking our proposed costs against comparator companies, completing a public consultation process, and thereafter setting appropriate allowances for revenue, operating costs, capital costs and other items. The revenue control decision sets the basis for future non-domestic tariff prices. At the end of a revenue control period, the CRU evaluates Uisce Éireann’s spending to determine whether it was within the pre-determined allowance and whether it delivered its defined outputs and outcomes as agreed with the CRU. The CRU will hold a public consultation process on Revenue Control period 4 in early 2025.

Capacity Constraints

Ireland has a complicated and ageing water and wastewater network that will take decades and multiple investment cycles to bring up to required standards. In the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) which includes Dublin and parts of Meath, Kildare and Wicklow, there is an increasing demand on the current water supply. Current estimates indicate wastewater treatment capacity will become an issue in the GDA by 2028 as the Ringsend Wastewater Treatment Plant approaches capacity and there will be a shortage of water for all customers within the next five years. The Greater Dublin Drainage Project (GDD) provides for a proposed new treatment plant and new regional sewer that will take significant load from the overloaded networks. The Water Supply Project Eastern and Midlands Region will develop a new, climate-resilient, long-term water source to meet the demands of a growing population and economy including the need for housing and mitigating against the impacts of climate change. The pace of growth in population and activity in the region has significantly eroded capacity in both water and wastewater so that the timely delivery of these projects is now key. There is more information on these projects within the Operating Review.

In the interim, Uisce Éireann is continuously investing in leakage reduction and remains committed to improving current supplies through upgrades to our infrastructure to ensure we can obtain maximum output but these measures have limited capacity. Despite these measures, both services will remain on a knife-edge until WSP and GDD are fully delivered.

Drinking Water Quality

The latest Drinking Water Report published by our environmental regulator, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows that Ireland’s public drinking water supplies remain at a high standard, with 99.7% compliance with microbiological and chemical standards (EPA Published Drinking Water Quality in Public Supplies 2023). This is a result of the ongoing high levels of investment and improved operational measures. Uisce Éireann is committed to ensuring everyone in Ireland has access to safe, clean drinking water. Uisce Éireann also continues to make progress in addressing known risks to water supplies which are on the EPA’s Remedial Action List. In 2024, we completed works at 14 supplies to meet the EPA’s required standards. For those supplies that remain on the list or for those added, Uisce Éireann is progressing plans to address any underlying issues and ensure resilient water supplies for the communities they serve.

We have prioritised investment in the schemes identified in the Court of Justice of the European Union infringement case as at risk from Trihalomethanes (THM) exceedances. Of the original 74 public water supplies included in the first European Court of Justice infringement letter, all but 5 of these have now been addressed. For those that remain, we have comprehensive plans in place to address the issues either through upgrades or rationalisation of existing treatment plants. 

Wastewater Quality

Adequate wastewater treatment capacity is vital to protect public health, safeguard the environment and facilitate social and economic growth. As our population and economy grows, so too does the volume of wastewater. In 2024 over 90% of Ireland’s treatment plants were fully compliant with the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive. For those plants that are not currently achieving compliance, Uisce Éireann has a plan of action to address any deficiencies and bring them up to the appropriate standard as quickly as possible. We prioritise areas with the greatest need/ risk. We are constructing or have completed projects in 41 out of 50 locations where raw sewage was discharging from the public network into receiving waters. To date we have built new wastewater infrastructure in 34 locations where no treatment existed before, and we have 7 under construction.

The Year Ahead

The top priority in 2025 is the delivery of additional water services capacity in key growth areas. The need for the WSP and GDD is identified as being critical to ensuring we can achieve the widest benefit to the greatest number of people, so that we will seek to drive these projects forward with active engagement on all stakeholder dependencies.

This means that we will be focusing on:

• Delivering the Capital Investment Plan for 2025.
• Supporting the water and wastewater connections to support Housing targets.
• Reducing leakage, particularly in the Greater Dublin Area.
• Ensuring our strong safety culture is maintained through our Work Safe Home Safe initiatives.
• Strengthening the experience of our customers and communities in the delivery of our services.
• Progressing the transition of water services staff into Uisce Éireann and enabling the integration of all our people in our new shared organisation.
• Resolving the issue of water discolouration issues which has impacted householders and businesses.

Uisce Éireann performed well in 2024, supporting key Government policies and priorities including Housing for All, prioritising essential infrastructure projects required to meet the needs of our growing population and economy. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the Board, my colleagues on the Executive team, Uisce Éireann staff and our delivery partners who together with staff in the Local Authorities delivered water and wastewater services in 2024.