Northern Ireland Water facts for kids
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| Public utility | |
| Industry | Water industry |
| Founded | 1 April 2007 |
| Headquarters | Westland House, 40 Old Westland Road, Belfast |
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Key people
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Sara Venning (Chief Executive) |
Northern Ireland Water Limited is the main company that provides water services in Northern Ireland. It is also known as Uisce Thuaisceart Éireann in Irish and Norlin Airlan Wattèr in Ulster-Scots.
This company used to be part of the Northern Ireland government. On April 1, 2007, it became a company owned by the government. Now, it works as an agency within the Department for Infrastructure (DfI). Northern Ireland Water provides about 575 million litres of clean water every day. This water goes to nearly 1.8 million people. The company also treats 340 million litres of dirty water (wastewater) each day. Around 1,300 people work for Northern Ireland Water.
The company looks after 27,000 kilometres of pipes that carry clean water. It also manages 16,000 kilometres of pipes that carry wastewater away. There are 23 places where they clean water (water treatment works). Plus, there are 1,030 places where they treat wastewater. It costs about £460 million each year to provide these water services across Northern Ireland.
Contents
How Water Services Started in Northern Ireland
Before 1973, local councils were in charge of water and sewer services. This was true for most of Northern Ireland, except for Belfast. In Belfast, a group called the Belfast City and District Water Commissioners handled these services.
In 1974, the government took over. The Department of the Environment became responsible for water and sewer services. A new group, the Water Executive, was set up within this department. They managed all water and sewer services.
While water companies in England and Wales became private in 1989, Northern Ireland kept its water services public.
In 1996, the Water Executive changed its name. It became the Northern Ireland Water Service. In 1999, the responsibility for water moved to the Department for Regional Development.
Changes to Water Bills
For many years, people thought that homes in Northern Ireland did not pay for water. But before 1974, homes did pay for water. The cost was part of their local property taxes. After 1974, the water costs were included in the general household tax. Only businesses received separate water bills and had water meters.
In December 2002, the government announced a big change. Water and sewer services in Northern Ireland would need to pay for themselves. For two years, there were many discussions about these changes. The plan was to add water meters to new houses. Also, all homes would start paying for water and sewer services.
In August 2004, a government minister, John Spellar, announced that a state-owned company would be created. The plan for water charges was put into a law in 2006. This law was introduced by the secretary of state at the time, Peter Hain. Northern Ireland Water Limited was then created in April 2007.
However, many people protested against the new water charges in 2007. Because of these protests, the plans for water charges were stopped. Later, all the main political parties in Northern Ireland said they helped to stop the charges.
Improving Water Services
In 2007, a system was set up to check how well the water company was doing. This was similar to the system in England and Wales, where a group called Ofwat checks water companies. In Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation took on this role.
This group compared Northern Ireland Water to companies in England and Wales. They found that Northern Ireland Water needed to improve in some areas. These areas included the quality of drinking water, the quality of treated wastewater, how much water leaked from pipes, customer service, and how efficient the company was.
Since then, Northern Ireland Water has made big improvements. By 2016/17, the company reported its best results ever for treating wastewater. The quality of drinking water also stayed very high.
How Northern Ireland Water is Organized
Northern Ireland Water is a Government Owned Company (GoCo). This means the central government owns it, but it works like a regular company. It follows company laws and rules for good management.
Important Water Sources and Treatment Places
Northern Ireland Water uses several important places to get and clean water.
- Silent Valley Reservoir
- Lough Neagh
- Ben Crom Reservoir
- Spelga Dam and Reservoir
- Dunore Point
- Drumaroad Water Treatment Works, which was built as part of the Aquarius Mourne Water Project
See also
