So Dublin needs water, even more water. the use per capita is already far above the international average and increasing, despite the fact we have no heavy industries. Before the real debate has begun it seems the decision is made to take 3% of the Shannon and pipe it to the City – the only thing left to decide – how to get it here. What are the implications and what would a systems approach suggest? It seems we are looking once more at the classic “end of pipe” solution however in this case the irony is that the most upstream solution really is end of pipe – i.e. make less come out at the other end.

Dublin’s current water supply centres on a series of reservoirs in the hills around the city – mostly in Wicklow and Kildare. They are nearing capacity. No shortage of work has been done in terms of looking at the options – desalination, pumping from various lakes, and storing water in bogs on the way to Dublin – check out http://www.watersupplyproject-dublinregion.ie/index.php?page=the-project

At this level of looking at things it seems easy to make the argument that at any given level of detail this or that option is the most appropriate.

What doesn’t seem to have happened is to have the strategic use of water in the City put through the lens of a whole systems approach. The need for the water infrastructure seems to be based on forecasts of population and demand levels as opposed to backcasting from a picture of what success looks like in terms of sustainability. There are four basic constraints to design the system within:
1. What way can we design a water system that will mean we will over time reducing reliance on scarce metals and fossil fuels? – committing to amortising a 60 year investment based on use of fossil fuels to pump water through plastic pipes is not compliant with sustainability
2. What way can we design a water system that will reduce use of synthetic chemicals and other man made substances?
3. What way can we design a water system that reduces destruction of nature?
4. What way can we design a water system that increases the building of human capital and meet human needs globally?
Looking at the issue from this perspective will ensure that trade-offs and unintended consequences are not created such as the increasing cost of energy, the decreasing availability of scarce metals, the need for extra water treatment as we increase the volume going into the system with the consequent need to pump sewage and construct infrastructure, the extra chemicals needed to treat both fresh water and used water and so on.

A systems examination of the issue needs breadth, bravery, and a realistic definition of sustainability that includes of all the issues and puts them in context beside each other as if they are related.