Blog Action Day 2010

Today is Blog Action Day and thousands of bloggers from around the world have agreed to come together and write about water issues this year.

This is a perfect opportunity for bloggers in Ireland to discuss the proposed water charges that the government supposedly intend to bring into effect in the very near future.

The concept of water charges is in itself a good idea if it encourages people to regulate their water usage and the tax collected is ear marked for investment in the country's infrastructure - thus limiting the current disgraceful waste of such a precious resource through leakage.

Unfortunately it has been suggested that the government plans to apply a blanket charge rather than one based on actual usage. This removes any financial incentive to conserve water or to alter behaviour usage. In addition, the tax collected will simply be thrown at reducing the country's deficit and thus the dilapidated infrastructure that urgently requires upgrading will remain untouched.

At the moment, it looks like a wasted opportunity by the Irish Government to raise public awareness about water being a precious resource in need of conservation. Instead it just lookes like another attempt at trying to tax away the problems that the country is currently suffering from.