John Campbell
BBC News NI economics and business editor
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Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where households do not pay directly for their water
The Stormont Executive could look outside the UK and Ireland for a better way to fund Northern Ireland Water, a member of an independent budget watchdog has suggested.
Prof Alan Barrett said the different systems in the UK and Ireland are “particularly dysfunctional”.
Mr Barrett is a member of the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council which has produced a report concluding that NI Water’s current funding model is not fit for purpose.
Persistent underfunding of NI Water has led to a shortfall in the wastewater infrastructure, which in turn, is limiting house building and other development.
Mr Barrett said the island of Ireland has “water systems where we just give the water away which is rarely a great idea”.
“In England, there’s a particularly radical form of privatisation which you can argue hasn’t worked terribly well either,” he added.
He pointed to water charging in the wider EU where there are a variety of models including metering.
“In terms of looking to the future, there are probably a whole lot of models which work rather seamlessly, it’s just that we’re closer to the ones that are particularly dysfunctional.”
Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where households do not pay directly for their water.
Instead, NI Water receives a government subsidy which diverts more than £300m annually from the Stormont Executive’s budget.
Ageing wastewater infrastructure
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A consultation has been launched seeking opinions on whether building firms should contribute to financing wastewater systems
Much of Northern Ireland’s wastewater infrastructure is ageing and needs upgraded.
It means there are more than 100 towns and villages where the system is operating near or above capacity and cannot accommodate any additional wastewater connections.
Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the largest Executive parties, are opposed to water charges.
The Department for Infrastructure, which has a Sinn Féin minister, Liz Kimmins, is holding a consultation which could lead to all house builders in Northern Ireland having to pay into a wastewater infrastructure fund.