Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal - Overview
•Population 2011 Census 160,927 (+9.3% from 2006)
•The most populous county in the Border Regional Authority area (of Donegal, Sligo, Monaghan, Leitrim, Louth, Cavan) but with the second lowest density (27 persons per sq km compared to national average 52)
•75% of people live in rural areas
•25% live in urban areas
•circa 10% live in large urban areas (Letterkenny(Gateway), Buncrana)
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal - Overview
•>800 people live on offshore islands
•84,356 houses up 20% since 2006
•24,066 vacant houses (28.5%) the second highest % in the country (primarily due to numbers of holiday homes)
•natural increase in the population since 2006 (births minus deaths) 5,507
•88% of households have a piped water supply (public/ group water schemes)
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal – Geography & Environment
•Area of county Donegal 486,091 hectares
•Bigger than the combined areas of counties Cavan, Leitrim, Monaghan
•Entirely within the North Western International River Basin District
•45% is mountainous with the highest mountain Errigal stretching to 782m
•43% is rolling lowland
•45% is arable pastureland
•44% is peat bogs and natural grassland
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal – Geography & Environment
•Topography
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal – Geography & Environment
•17% of Donegal is Special Area of Conservation
•5% is Special Protected Area
•25% of Donegal is Natural Heritage Area
•16,000 hectares of National Park
•12 blue flag beaches
•Longest coastline in the country stretching to 1134 km
•Highest sea cliffs in Europe (Slieve League) 600m
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal – Geography & Environment
•Blue Flag Beaches , Protected Areas, Glenveigh National Park, Towns
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal – Water Infrastructure
•Existing Water Supplies
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal – Water Infrastructure
•Water Management Systems
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal – Water Infrastructure
•Total Length of water mains = 4,366 kms
•Water Treatment Works (WTW) = 73
•Reservoirs = 178
•Pumping Stations = 175
•Water Supply Schemes ranging in Distribution Input (DI) from 150 m3 to 9000 m3/day
•Daily consumption = 60,000 to 65,000 m3/day
•97% of water is from Surface Waters
•3% of water supplied is from Groundwater
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal – Water Infrastructure
•88 Water Sources supplying 73 water schemes of which
•41 no. Public Water Supplies
•25 no. Public Group Water Schemes
•7 no. Private Group Water Schemes
•23.5 million m3 per annum public
•0.5 million m3 per annum private
•4 no. plants > 4,000 m3 per day; 20 plants > 1,000 m3/day
•Circa 70,000 m3 purchased from NI Water annually
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal – Water Infrastructure
•Single Domestic connections = 52,000
•Metered connections > 10,000 on Temetra
•Bulk meters = 967
•Sluice valves = 10,300
•Countywide Telemetry/ SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition system for gathering and analyzing real time data).
•Reported (Service Indicators) UFW (Unaccounted for Water) circa 53% [39% average for top 5 schemes]
•Water Loss (m3/km/hr) 0.4 which is better than the interim target value
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal – Water Infrastructure
•Of the 38 schemes supplying > 100m3/day 74% are more than 30 years old
•Of the 38 schemes supplying > 100m3/day 56% have not undergone any significant upgrade
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal – Water Infrastructure
•Pipe MaterialsCounty Donegal Pipe Material Breakdown
MDPE 0%
HDPE 23%
Ductile Iron 1%Cast Iron 3%Asbestos Cement 9%
uPVC 61%
Unsurveyed / Unknown 3%
uPVC
MDPE
HDPE
Ductile Iron
Cast Iron
Asbestos Cement
Unsurveyed /Unknown
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal – Water Infrastructure
•Pipe Sizes
County Donegal - Breakdown of Pipe Diameter
175mm 2%
25mm 3%
150mm 13%
125mm 3%100mm 39%
75mm 13%
50mm 19%
300mm 1%
250mm 2%
200mm 4%
25mm 50mm
75mm 100mm
125mm 150mm
175mm 200mm
225mm 250mm
300mm 350mm
400mm 450mm
500mm 600mm
700mm 800mm
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal – Drinking Water Regulations - Compliance
•2009 Data
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal – Proposed Water Infrastructure
•Regional Water Supply Study Areas
Lough MourneLetterkennyWS
Inishowen Water StrategyDesertegney/ Lagan/ West & East Inishowen
FanadRegional
WS
CranfordRegional
WS
OwenteskinaRegional
WS
KillybegsWS Ballyshannon
RegionalWS
Frosses/ Mountcharles/Inver/ Eske WS
RossesRegionalWS
LettermacawardRegionalWS
GortahorkFalcarragh
WS
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal – Proposed Water Infrastructure
•Over a period with substantial investment it is possible to rationalise the number of water supply sources/ schemes to less than 20 with considerable improvements in operational efficiency.
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal – Wastewater Infrastructure
Inver
Pettigo
BelleekBundoran
Ballintra
Donegal TownKillybegsKilcar
Carrick
Ardara
Glenties
Dungloe
Ballybofey/ Stranorlar
LiffordMilltown
N'Cunningham
Letterkenny
Kilmacrennan
Milford Rathmullan
BuncranaKerrykeelCreeslough
Falcarragh
CarrigartDunfanaghyMoville
Clonmany
Malin
Derrybeg
Glencolumbkille
Malin Beg
Fintown
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal – Wastewater Infrastructure
•97 wastewater schemes with 105 treatment plants
•23 schemes with current pe (population equivalent) > 1000
•48 have secondary treatment or better
•77% > 20 years old
• > 35,000 Septic tanks
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal – Water Services DBO’s
DBO (Design Build Operate) Contracts in Donegal
•1 Metering and Meter Reading contract €1.0m per annum
•1 Water Supply contract €0.22m per annum
•1 Wastewater Operation Contracts €1.5m per annum
•1 Wastewater DBO contract under construction 2013 operational cost €1.7m
DBO Experience
•High fixed Cost element
•No Local Authority budgetary discretion
•Significant Non-Domestic Borrowings
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal – Water Services DBO’s
Typical Sewerage Scheme DBO (Design Build Operate)
•DBO related capital costs €30.0m
•DCC matching funding €7.5m (25.0%) from own resources (Non-Domestic Loans & General development Contributions)
•€1.7m annual operating cost
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal – Water Services Charges
2011 Non-Domestic Water Service Charges
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
County Donegal – Immediate infrastructural Needs
•Infrastructural Requirements
•Water Treatment and Trunk Networks €132m
•Water Distribution Networks (water conservation) €64.9m
•Wastewater Treatment and Trunk Networks €186m
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
Water Services Pricing Policy
‘marginal capital costs’ generally means the cost associated with increasing the capacity of domestic only infrastructure to (i) provide capacity for existing non-domestic users, and (ii) provide spare capacity for future non-domestic and future domestic users.
In practice the marginal capital cost of doubling the capacity of a treatment plant will in general be less than double the capital cost cost of a domestic only plant.
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
Water Services Pricing Policy
•the non-domestic marginal capital costs to be recovered from the existing normal non-domestic sector by spreading the cost over a suitable period (through borrowings) and recovering the cost as an element of the overall water service charges for non-domestic users. •the spare capacity marginal capital costs (future domestic and future non-domestic) to be recovered from development contributions
Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht
Water Services Pricing Policy
Anomalies•Core operational costs have also been rising steadily due to
–increased provision of infrastructure and services, and –new and higher environmental and performance standards. (EPA Wastewater Licensing)
• Therefore the Counties with the greatest requirements for standalone infrastructure, lower population densities, and greatest environmental sensitivity will incur the highest unit operating costs and water services core operational charges.