{"id":571813,"date":"2026-07-28T08:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T08:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/571813\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T08:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T08:58:09","slug":"water-rates-could-help-alleviate-irelands-drought-problem-but-will-they-ever-be-introduced-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/571813\/","title":{"rendered":"Water rates could help alleviate Ireland\u2019s drought problem \u2013 but will they ever be introduced? \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Sir, \u2013 What does it say about our priorities in this country when golf clubs are exempt from the hosepipe ban while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/ireland\/2026\/07\/25\/itll-take-an-hour-to-water-this-patch-hosepipe-ban-brings-heavy-lift-for-allotment-owners\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/ireland\/2026\/07\/25\/itll-take-an-hour-to-water-this-patch-hosepipe-ban-brings-heavy-lift-for-allotment-owners\/\">vegetable growers, whether in back gardens or on allotments<\/a>, are not?<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">People grow vegetables for many good reasons \u2013 to reduce their carbon footprint, to live more sustainably, to be assured of eating produce free from chemical intervention, for the mental and physical benefits of engaging with nature. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Small-scale vegetable growers generally do not use sprinklers or spray randomly \u2013 they apply water in a targeted way to where it is needed to keep this food source thriving. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">In many cases, applying it via a watering can will probably use as much water but cause excessive hardship to the growers, especially if they are elderly or trying to fit it into a busy work\/family schedule.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Clean, drinkable water is essential to keep us alive. So too is food \u2013 but we don\u2019t march into a supermarket and demand it for free. Water rates that give households a reasonable allowance and penalise waste could help to alleviate the problem of drought, which is only going to get worse with climate change in the years to come. What political party will have the courage to grasp that nettle? <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u2013 Yours, etc,<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">SALLY SWEENEY,<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Tramore,<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Co Waterford.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir, \u2013 What does it say about our priorities in this country when golf clubs are exempt from&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[246,61,60,23798,82],"class_list":["post-571813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-water","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}