1. 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)

2. 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)

3. 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

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

5. 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

6. 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

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

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

9. 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 m 3 to 9000 m 3 /day Daily consumption = 60,000 to 65,000 m 3 /day 97% of water is from Surface Waters 3% of water supplied is from Groundwater

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

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

14. Donegal County Council – Presentation to Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment Transport Culture and Gaeltacht County Donegal – Water Infrastructure Pipe Sizes

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

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

17. 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.

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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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.

25. 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

26. 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.