County Donegal - Overview

1. County Donegal - Overview Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • 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)

2. County Donegal - Overview Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • >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)

3. County Donegal – Geography & Environment Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • 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

4. County Donegal – Geography & Environment Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • Topography

5. County Donegal – Geography & Environment Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • 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

6. County Donegal – Geography & Environment Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • Blue Flag Beaches , Protected Areas, Glenveigh National Park, Towns

7. County Donegal – Water Infrastructure Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • Existing Water Supplies

8. County Donegal – Water Infrastructure Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • Water Management Systems

9. County Donegal – Water Infrastructure Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • 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

10. County Donegal – Water Infrastructure Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • 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

11. County Donegal – Water Infrastructure Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • 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

12. County Donegal – Water Infrastructure Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • 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

13. County Donegal – Water Infrastructure Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • Pipe Materials

14. 25mm 50mm County Donegal - Breakdown of Pipe Diameter 75mm 100mm 125mm 150mm 100mm 39% 125mm 3% 175mm 200mm 150mm 13% 225mm 250mm 300mm 350mm 400mm 450mm 500mm 600mm 700mm 800mm 175mm 2% 200mm 4% 250mm 2% 75mm 13% 300mm 1% 25mm 3% 50mm 19% County Donegal – Water Infrastructure Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • Pipe Sizes

15. County Donegal – Drinking Water Regulations - Compliance Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • 2009 Data

16. County Donegal – Proposed Water Infrastructure Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • Regional Water Supply Study Areas

17. County Donegal – Proposed Water Infrastructure Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • 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.

18. County Donegal – Wastewater Infrastructure Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht

19. County Donegal – Wastewater Infrastructure Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • 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

20. County Donegal – Water Services DBO’s Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • 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

21. County Donegal – Water Services DBO’s Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • 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

22. County Donegal – Water Services Charges Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht 2011 Non-Domestic Water Service Charges

23. County Donegal – Immediate infrastructural Needs Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • Infrastructural Requirements • Water Treatment and Trunk Networks €132m • Water Distribution Networks (water conservation) €64.9m • Wastewater Treatment and Trunk Networks €186m

24. Water Services Pricing Policy Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht ‘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.

25. Water Services Pricing Policy Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • 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

26. Water Services Pricing Policy Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht • 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.