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Getty Images<\/p>\nJohn Campbell<\/p>\n
BBC News NI economics and business editor<\/p>\n
Getty Images<\/p>\n
Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where households do not pay directly for their water<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Prof Alan Barrett said the different systems in the UK and Ireland are “particularly dysfunctional”.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Persistent underfunding of NI Water has led to a shortfall in the wastewater infrastructure, which in turn, is limiting house building and other development.<\/p>\n
Mr Barrett said the island of Ireland has “water systems where we just give the water away which is rarely a great idea”.<\/p>\n
“In England, there’s a particularly radical form of privatisation which you can argue hasn’t worked terribly well either,” he added.<\/p>\n
He pointed to water charging in the wider EU where there are a variety of models including metering.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/p>\n
Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where households do not pay directly for their water.<\/p>\n
Instead, NI Water receives a government subsidy which diverts more than \u00a3300m annually from the Stormont Executive’s budget.<\/p>\n
Ageing wastewater infrastructure<\/p>\n
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A consultation has been launched seeking opinions on whether building firms should contribute to financing wastewater systems<\/p>\n
Much of Northern Ireland’s wastewater infrastructure is ageing and needs upgraded.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the largest Executive parties, are opposed to water charges.<\/p>\n