Author(s)

Rodney McDermott^1*, Brian Solan¹, Sarah McCord¹, Kim Littlewood²

¹Belfast School of Architecture and the Built Environment, Ulster University, Belfast, UK.
²Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.

Rising costs of production and the need for capital investment in the public water supply network in Ireland, has placed a strong emphasis on the need for water conservation and tackling the current high levels of leakage (Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, 2015) [1]. Consequently, Irish Water which is Ireland’s national water utility has had to consider various business models and supply frameworks to demonstrate value for money. This has included those successfully implemented by Scottish Water. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare both national utility providers in terms of structure and financial performance. The results of this study showed that both utility providers differed significantly. The Utility has, indeed, tried to achieve “too much too soon” (O’Leary, 2018 [2]; Donegal Now, 2016) [3]. Therefore, the initial results of this study suggest that, continuing to consider Scottish Water as the benchmark may generate unrealistic targets and expectations which in all probability may not be achieved.

Irish Water, Scottish Water, Water Charges, Water Leakage, Water Utility

McDermott, R. , Solan, B. , McCord, S. and Littlewood, K. (2019) Irish Water and Scottish Water: A Comparison. Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 11, 1064-1089. doi: 10.4236/jwarp.2019.118063.